Yu Yu Hakusho: Brothers
by weebee
Summary: A Ranma/YYH Xover. Rather infrequent updates.... sorry. Summary is in the first chapter... I think.
1. Chapter 1

YYH, Brothers. By Weebee.

Summary. Shortly after Jusenkyo, Genma gets really drunk and says some things that he shouldn't. After learning that he isn't really Genma's son, Ranma strikes out on his own and ends up in Tokyo, where he meats a woman who seems to be prone to fainting spells…

Re-Release notes: I have gotten ahold of my older brother's copy of Yu Yu Hakusho, and do not see much wrong with the plot I laid out for this. As a result, I am posting it on FF.N for continuation. This is the first of my Re-releases. The next one I have planned is "contrast Match."

Power levels. Ranma is on par with Yusuke before he becomes a spirit detective. I know this seems under powered but this is Ranma BEFORE the Manga and Yusuke is a damned good fighter. His hand to hand skills do NOT, despite what most people think, seem to improve when he becomes a detective and he can still battle Youkai with them. Genkai's training also does not really improve his PHYSICAL strength, at least no more than Ranma would get fighting Kuwabara for that time or doing some other sort of training. There for, My decision stands. Ranma is about on par with Yusuke at the beginning of the series, maybe a bit better.

Disclaimer. I don't own Ranma ½ or Yu Yu Hakusho. Don't sue me, My computer belongs to the government and everything else I own belongs to my parents.

Prologue, Genma's mistake.

Ten years ago, 1981.

Genma Saotome trudged down the street, looking both sad and panicked. Earlier that day, His wife of six years had died while in the process of child birth. Although Genma was sad about this, he was also worried because he had made many promises that required a child in order to carry out. Why, His agreement with Tendo alone was very important and he had had three lovely daughters by now. As Genma walked, an idea occurred to him. True, it would be a lot less honourable than anything else he had done in his life, however he really needed a child. With a sigh, he walked towards the local city park.

In the park, Two young boys were playing in a sand box. One of them had fiery red hair, while the other had black hair. The redhead seemed to just sit there, not really doing much and looking bored while his brother ran around him. From a bench close by the children's mother watched, a fond smile on her face. As she drank a cup of coffee, she watched her two children play and thought about their father, who had been dead for the last three years. Realizing that she was out of coffee, the woman got up and walked over to her sons.

"Tenchi. Mommy's going to go over and get a cup of coffee from the cart over there. Watch Shuichi for me, okay?"

The black haired boy, who was her eldest, nodded. "All right mommy." He said, as she walked off.

"Hey Shuichi." Tenchi said, looking at his rather lethargic younger brother. "I saw a buncha gardens over there. You wanna go see them?"

The younger boy nodded, and his older brother lead him towards a plot of ground where flowers were growing. While he didn't really like plants, Tenchi knew that his little brother loved them and it seemed that the only time he was really happy was when he was in a garden.

Plopping down on the ground next to the plot of flowers, Tenchi watched his little brother as he carefully inspected each flower. He could swear that the younger boy let off a greenish glow as he tended the flowers, but dismissed it as being impossible.

Genma sat in the bushes in the park, looking around. His conscience was gnawing at him, telling him that what he was doing was wrong, but memories of all of the promises he had made ran through his mind and he squashed the small objecting voice. As he looked around the park, Genma saw two young boys sitting in a plot of flowers. One of them had bright red hair. Since both he and Nodoka had black hair… well, he used to have black hair, it was unbelievable that the two of them could produce a child with that colour hair. The one next to him seemed about a year older, and he was twitching as if he wanted to go and play somewhere else but had to watch the younger boy.

"He'd be perfect." Genma said, creeping through the bushes towards the children. Looking around, he saw their mother turning from a drink cart in another part of the park. Deciding that he had to make his move now, Genma jumped out of the bushes, grabbing the black haired boy and running.

The redhead looked up from his flowers to see his older brother being taken by a bald man in a white training Gi. Even if he found the other boy annoying, he was part of his human family and he had to protect him. Trying to command the flowers in the bed to grab the bald man, the boy realized that he hadn't gained enough power to do that yet and the flowers didn't move fast enough.

Getting to his feet, Shuichi Minamino ran after the man who had taken his brother. "Tenchi!" He yelled, as the man seemed to leap out of the park and onto a nearby roof.

1991.

Ranma Saotome shot up in his sleeping bag, rubbing at his eyes. It was that damned dream again. He couldn't remember much of it, just an image of his father running through a field with him in his arms, a four year old boy running after them and yelling something. "Who the heck is Tenchi…" Ranma wondered, getting out of his bed as he knew that he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Him and his father were in China, on the way to some place called the Joketsu zoku village. Of course, they wouldn't have to go there if it weren't for the old man's stupidity. 'He just had to go to jusenkyo without knowing how to speak Chinese.' Ranma thought, walking into a forest clearing to do some Kata. To his surprise, Ranma saw his father in the middle of the clearing, an empty bottle of Sake sitting next to him. His eyes were full of tears, and he swayed even while sitting.

"Now whatami gunna do?" Genma slurred, raising the bottle to his lips, trying to drink Sake that didn't exist. He must have been here for a while, as he seemed to think that there still was alcohol in the bottle and gave a satisfied sigh before putting it down. "It's bad enough he turns into a girl, his cursed form looks nothing like me."

"Huh?" Ranma wondered, leaning into the clearing to hear the old man speak.

"Waddam I gunna do now? The second Tendo sees the boy's girl form he'll know he's not mine."

'Not his?' Ranma thought, his eyes widening.

"Well, I guess I can't take him to the Tendo place now. Maybe I can get him married to that Kuonji kid. After all, the Kuonjis never met Nodoka. It should be easy to pass Ranma off as mine with them."

'Pass me off as…' Ranma thought, before he connected the dots. In that dream he had, the boy who was chasing after him and his father had bright red hair and a thin build… just like his girl form. He knew that his father had done some really bad things, but kidnapping someone else's child? That was hard for Ranma to accept out of the old man. Then again, he had trained him in the Neko Ken… and he was talking about marrying him off to UKCHAN? He had to check this out.

Creeping out of the clearing, Ranma opened his father's travel pack. The first thing he found were a bunch of fighting Gi, and then a secret Sake stash and some food. Growling because his father had been making him go out and catch food for the last few weeks, Ranma continued digging. Under the food was a scroll case containing the technique scrolls for the anything goes martial arts, and under that was what he was looking for.

Pulling a manila envelope from the bottom of the pack, Ranma ripped it open and took out all of the legal documentation Genma had.

Genma's birth certificate, revealing that he had taken his wife's name. "I wonder who the Rokubungis are?' A marriage certificate, several other papers and… another birth certificate. Reading it over, Ranma's eyes widened.

"Ranma Saotome. Born, September 2 1981. Died on birth, along with mother."

With trembling hands, Ranma put all of the papers back into Genma's pack, stopping only long enough to grab some of the older man's food supplies.

Packing his own bag, Ranma headed out. He didn't know what he was going to do, but from what he had heard Genma talking about he didn't want to be anywhere near the older man. He couldn't go to that Joketsu zoku place, as Genma would head there first. Deciding that even his curse wasn't as important as getting out of here at the moment, Ranma struck out for the coast line.

The next morning, Genma Saotome awoke with a splitting headache. Trying to roll onto his side to avoid the sun, he rolled over a bottle of Sake, one of the reasons for the aforementioned headache.

Grumbling to himself, Genma forced himself to his feet, walking towards the clearing where his son had slept and where he should have done the same.

Entering the clearing, Genma saw that Ranma's sleeping bag and pack were gone. "Boy! Where are you!" He yelled, waking the third member of his party, the Jusenkyo guide.

"Sir. Why so much shouting. Want go sleep, yes?" The guide said, from his position rapped up in a sleeping bag.

"Did you see where Ranma went?" Genma asked, looking at the guide.

"No sir. I no see where young Mr. Customer go. I asleep all night last night." The guide said, yawning and climbing out of his sleeping bag.

Noticing the top of his pack open, Genma walked over and flipped it the rest of the way up,. Seeing that the pack had been searched the night before. "Hey! The boy stole my supplies!" He yelled, noticing that many of his secret foodstuffs were missing. Pushing the remainder of the food out of the way, Genma saw a yellow folder that had been ripped at the top. "Oh no…" He breathed, reaching down and picking it up. The first thing that fell out of the folder was Ranma's birth certificate. "The boy found out." He said, his face going white.

Repacking his bag, Genma slung it over his shoulder and looked at the guide. "Get ready to go. Ranma must have gone to that village you told me about to try and get his curse cured." 'I hope.'

The guide nodded, slinging his own pack over his shoulder, and the two started out on their trip.

About eighty miles in the opposite direction from the Joketsu zoku village, Ranma was beginning to stagger. 'Maybe taking off in the middle of the night was a bad idea.' He thought, almost tripping over a tree root. Remembering what Genma had been talking about the night before spurred him to continue. "I ain't getting married yet, and if he ain't even my real pop I ain't gunna let him arrange a marriage for me, especially to another guy."

A few minutes later, Ranma stumbled and fell to the ground. "Okay… Maybe I'll rest here for a bit." He conceded, rolling onto his side and shrugging off his pack.

A day and a half later, Genma and the Jusenkyo guide walked down a trail, with Genma in panda form thanks to a recent rain.

"Oh. We very lucky Mr. Customer." The guide said, as the two of them came into view of a small village. "We arrive on day of tournament."

Genma grofed noncommittally, following the guide into the village. Looking around, Genma saw two women fighting on a log. Dismissing them as unimportant, he kept looking until he saw… heaven! In the centre of the village, right next to the log where the two women were fighting, sat a large table with a red table cloth and more food than you could shake a sign at. Growling happily, Genma walked over to the table and sat down, starting to munch.

"OH Sir! You no do dat. That prize for tournament!" The guide said, panicked.

Genma grofed questioningly before having several spears levelled at his throat. One of the women knocked the other off of the log next to the table and jumped down, speaking in a dialect of Chinese and glairing at the Panda.

"She ask why you eat food." The guide translated, looking nervously between the girl and the animal.

Genma pulled out a sign which the guide read, before saying something to the girl.

The girl didn't seem to like this answer and said something else in Chinese. The guide gulped before translating. "She say kill panda."

Genma's eyes widened before he grabbed the guide by the arm and started running out of the village. As the two were about to leave the village, a gnarled old woman pogoed in to their path, looking at Genma appraisingly.

"Hmm… This one is Jusenkyo cursed." She said, tapping her staff on the ground. Saying something in Chinese to the crowd behind Genma and the Guide, they quickly got the message and walked away, two men proceeding into a nearby hut and coming out with a pale of hot water.

Splashing Genma with it, the old woman looked at him appraisingly. "You have insulted our best warrior by consuming the food that rightfully belonged to her. You shall fight her to make up for it."

Genma nodded. "Of course. I can beat that little girl no problem."

The old woman said something to the girl, who's red eyes narrowed as she pulled two maces out of nowhere. Struggling to speak in Japanese, she said, "Ignorant male pay!"

"Don't lose to this one great granddaughter." Cologne said, looking at Genma. His genetics would certainly pollute the Amazon gene pool.

The two combatants leapt to the challenge log, Genma taking the classic anything goes null stance while the girl took a cat fighting stance.

After five minutes of fighting, Genma landed a blow that sent the girl falling off of the log and to the ground. Her eyes wide, the girl looked between Genma and the old woman, who shook her head sadly before saying something in Chinese.

With her face in a look of revulsion, The girl walked up to Genma, grabbing his face in her hands and kissing him on the lips. In a supremely unenthusiastic voice, she said, "Wo da Airen."

The guide's eyes widened and he quickly translated. "Beloved Husband… Honoured customer. You been given kiss of marriage."

Genma's eyes widened. "Kiss of what?" He asked, backing away slowly.

"The kiss of marriage." The old woman said, her face twisting into a look of revulsion. "Son in law. You are now married to my great granddaughter."

Genma immediately grabbed the guide's arm and ran off with him, the girl looking pleadingly at her great grandmother, who shook her head sadly, before reluctantly chasing after them.

A day later, on the coast at the other side of the country, Ranma was glairing at the ocean in front of her. She had pushed herself to her limits in order to get here this fast, and was far too tired to swim back across the ocean in the way that she got to China. Wandering down the coast, she soon entered the outskirts of a port city. Seeing a small fishing boat, she had an idea. After a quick visit to a local restaurant for some hot water, Ranma went to see a man about a job on a boat.

Chapter 1, Big panda hunting and Tokyo.

Xian Pu of the Chinese Amazons crept through the forest, her bonbori at the ready. True, she didn't want to catch this outsider male, however she didn't really have a choice. Laws were laws, after all. If only the old punishment of being thrown into a Jusenkyo spring for failure were still in effect, She would have instantly turned herself in to the elders and taken her punishment for failing to bring the fat panda man in. The problem was, ever since the Amazons figured out what Jusenkyo REALLY did they had discontinued that practice.

Seeing a flash of white in the distance ahead of her, Xian moved slowly towards it, not making any excess movements. Just as she was about to swing out with her bonbori and peg the Panda on the top of it's head, it moved, saw her and began to run away.

(Damn!) Shampoo cursed, before chasing after the Panda. Deciding to use her trump card attack in an attempt to stop the animal, she pointed her hands forward and shouted (Spirit Claws!) From each fingertip, weak beams of energy flashed out, stopping at the length of an animal's claws. Swiping with her newly made energy claws, Xian Pu caused a ripple of vacuum to fly forward, cutting a branch that was over the panda's head. To her annoyance, the panda rolled, avoiding the falling branch.

As the two ran, Xian began to realize where they were going. 'We're headed for Musk territory…' As she thought that, an evil smile crept onto her face. 'I can't marry a panda, now can I?' She thought, now deliberately leading the animal towards the territory of the beast men.

As Genma ran from the crazed red eyed girl behind him, he felt a feeling of impending doom. Shrugging it off, he kept running.

Three days later, Ranma walked off of a fishing boat, looking around to see a Japanese port city. "I'm finally in Japan." He said, happily. "But now where do I go?" Shrugging it off, he decided that heading to Tokyo would be the best idea, as his father had avoided that city like the plague for as long as he could remember. The only part of Tokyo they had ever stayed in for any length of time was Nerima, and they never left the district until they left the city. Setting his pack on the ground, Ranma looked through it to find that he just barely had enough rations to make it to Tokyo, but he'd need to get a job when he got there. Throwing the pack over his shoulder, he began to walk.

Meanwhile, Back in China, Shampoo stood in front of her great grandmother, looking sad. (…And my new Airen just ran straight into the musk camp.) She said, trying to sound like it had been an accident.

(I see.) Cologne said, a small flicker of amusement coming across her face. (Well, since the only cure to the locking ladle is in Japan, I suppose you'll just have to keep him as a pet. After all, we can't let a cursed one get out and bread with the real pandas. That could cause… problems…)

Genma sat between the two, tied up with some ropes and looking between them nervously. 'What are they saying?' He thought, but couldn't ask as his hands weren't free to pull out signs. He had heard the word Japan, but there was no way that they'd let him go back home, and there was no way he'd want to with his curse locked. There wasn't much a panda could do in a country full of big cities. With a forlorn grofe, Genma rolled to the side and lay down on the ground.

Shampoo grinned widely as she thought of uses for her new "Pet."

Ranma grumbled to herself as she walked down a road leading into Tokyo. "And it had to start raining NOW." She muttered, glairing up at the sky. Shrugging it off, she walked into the city, Dimly recognising the area she was in as Shin Mejiro. Seeing a decent sized park nearby, Ranma walked into it and found a nice, secluded spot to set up her tent. Looking around as she finished, Ranma saw a large field next to a patch of gardens. For some reason, the field stuck in her mind. Shaking her head to clear it, she crawled into her tent, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next day, Ranma walked out of yet another small shop, frustrated. No one would take him for work, as he hadn't graduated school and wasn't going at the moment. This wouldn't be a problem, accept for the fact that he didn't have any money, and the last of his provisions had run out last night. 'I guess there's no help for it.' He Thought, Resignedly, as he headed in the direction of the local high school.

Walking into the office, he looked around to see many people at desks. Seeing what looked to be the central desk, he walked up to it. "Um… Hello?" He asked, attracting the attention of the secretary who was working at the desk.

"Ah, hello young man." She said, smiling softly. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to register for school here." Ranma said, looking nervously around.

The woman nodded, before turning to her computer. "Name?" She asked, typing quickly.

Ranma froze. Could he use his own name? He had found out that he wasn't a Saotome, but what was his last name? "I'm Ranma." He said, deciding to just give his first name.

"Ranma…" The woman said, waiting.

"Just Ranma." He said, quickly.

The woman looked at him strangely for a moment before entering the data into her computer. There weren't really that many people with a name like Ranma anyways, so it wouldn't really cause much of a problem. "All right. Can I have your school records?"

Ranma put down his pack, rummaging through it. Finding no school records, he dug deeper. "Um… I don't think I have them."

The woman sighed. This kid didn't really know what he was doing, did he? "All right then. You'll have to take a placement test. Our guidance councillor can set it up for you."

"Thanks." Ranma said, walking away and sitting in a chair near the desk.

A few hours later, Ranma was looking down at the results of his placement test in disbelief. "I placed in the ninth grade level?" He asked, a look of shock on his face.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but that's your rating." The guidance councillor said, shaking his head. "Sarayashiki Jr. High is just down the street. Just present your papers to the guidance councillor there and she'll put you in a class."

"All right. Thanks." Ranma said, walking out of the building with his test in hand. 'Man, I didn't know I was that bad at school.' He thought, before heading towards the Jr. High.

At the Jr. High school down the street, two boys stood out front, the taller one glairing at the shorter. "All right Urameshi. You lose today!"

"Yeh Yeh. You say that every day Kuwabara." The shorter one, called Yusuke Urameshi, said. "Let's just do this." Saying this, Yusuke charged at Kuwabara, his fist raised.

After a few exchanges of blows, the larger boy was laying on the ground, stunned.

"Hey. That was a pretty good fight." A third voice said, coming from behind the two boys.

"Huh?" Yusuke asked, turning to see a pigtailed boy, who looked about two years older than him. "Who're you?"

"My name's Ranma." The pigtailed boy said, scratching the back of his head. "Can I join you guys in a fight some time?"

Yusuke blinked. This guy was nuts. He had just beaten the tar out of Kuwabara and he was asking to join in some time? Shrugging, he spoke. "I guess… if you want to."

Just as he said that, someone else approached the small group. "Yusuke? Why aren't you in class? Are you beating people up again?"

"Oh man. It's Keiko." Yusuke muttered, before turning to the brown haired girl who had just walked up to them. "Kuwabara just challenged me to another fight, that's all."

"I wish you wouldn't beat people up like that. It isn't good for your school record." Keiko said, looking reprovingly at Yusuke.

'Yeash. Nag, nag, nag." Yusuke thought, before following Keiko into the school.

"Yeh. You need some help?" Ranma asked, looking down at the fallen Kuwabara.

"Hey thanks." Kuwabara said, reaching up a hand to grab Ranma's. "Urameshi's beaten me one hundred and forty six times, but I'll beat him eventually!" He said, raising a fist into the air before yelping inn pain and bringing the arm back down, rubbing it with the other hand.

Ranma sweat dropped before grabbing Kuwabara's arm and helping him into the school.

Later, in one of the classes, Ranma stood up at the front and fiddled with his pigtail while the teacher introduced him. "All right class. This is Ranma. He's a new student. Everyone welcome him, please. Let's just hope he isn't like that punk Urameshi."

From the back of the class, Ranma saw Yusuke clenching his fist. He couldn't blame him. Anyone saying that kind of thing about him would get a punch in the face, so long as they were a martial artist. Plopping down in a chair at the back next to Yusuke, Ranma proceeded to go to sleep.

'I think I like this guy.' Yusuke thought, as he leaned back in his chair, paying absolutely no attention to the teacher.

In front of the two boys, Keiko scowled. 'Not another Yusuke.' She thought, before returning her attention to the teacher.

Later that day, Ranma whistled happily as he walked down a fence towards the park where his tent was set up. He was doing pretty good for himself so far. He had gotten registered at school, even if he didn't want to, He had met two pretty decent fighters and he was planning on getting a part time job as soon as he dropped his stuff at his tent.

As he walked towards the park, Ranma saw a woman walking down the street carrying a shopping bag. For some reason the woman seemed familiar. Studying her intently, Ranma couldn't figure out where he had seen her before. All thoughts of her familiarity were swept from his mind as the woman seemed to stop for a moment, sway on her feet and then fall to the ground. Jumping from the fence he was on, Ranma raced towards the downed woman.

"Hey Miss. You okay?" He asked, getting to her position and kneeling next to her. Grabbing her shoulder, he rolled her onto her back and realized that her eyes were closed and she appeared to be asleep. 'What the…' He thought, before realizing that this was more serious than her just falling asleep. Genma had been training him in basic life energy control and sensing before he ran away from him and this woman seemed to have a lack of said energy. She wasn't dead, however it was disconcertingly low.

Feeling somewhat like a thief for doing it, Ranma rummaged through the woman's pockets until he found her wallet, in which was a paper with her address on it in case the wallet was lost. Slipping it back into the woman's pocket, Ranma grabbed her in his arms and jumped to a nearby wall, and from there to a roof.

Shuichi Minamino walked into his house, slipping off his school bag and jacket, and dropping them on the ground next to the door. Walking into the living room, he called his mother. Getting no response, he walked into the kitchen, where he found a note.

"Shuichi. I've gone to get some milk and bread. We're out. Love, mom."

'Damn it.' Shuichi said, crumpling the note. 'She's too sick to be going out. I've got to go find her.' With his mind made up, Shuichi headed for the front door, when he heard a knocking sound on it. Opening the door, he saw a young man with a pigtail… carrying his mother's body. Instantly, Shuichi went into full Kurama mode, falling into a defensive fighting stance and taking in every detail of the person who held his mother.

He was human, however he had a strange aura about him that smelled of spirit world. He seemed like a pretty good fighter, almost enough to take out a low level demon without Reiki enhancement.

Seeing the red haired boy in front of him tense up, Ranma opened his mouth to explain. "Um… I found her passed out on the street. I figured I should bring her here… this is her house, right?"

Kurama nodded grudgingly, standing down from his attack stance. "She is my mother. Please bring her in here."

"Yeh. Sure." Ranma said, walking into the house and to the living room, where he set the woman on the couch. "Is she gunna be Okay?" He asked, concernedly.

"She will wake up soon." Kurama said, looking down at his human mother. "She has been sick for… quite a while. I've tried to get her to go to a hospital but she won't do it. I believe she may after this incident."

"All right. If you're sure." Ranma said, heading towards the door. The strange red haired boy was putting him on edge. One part of his mind was saying that he knew him from somewhere and that he wasn't a threat while another was screaming, "DANGER!"

Leaving the house, Ranma dismissed the strange incident from his mind, only worrying a bit about the woman. "Well, I'd better go look for a job." He said, before heading off.

Back in the house, Kurama was sitting next to his mother's sleeping form on the couch, resting one hand against her forehead and looking worriedly at her face. As she shifted in her sleep, Shiori Minamino said one word. "Tenchi?"

Kurama's eyes widened as he associated a strange feeling of familiarity he had had around the pigtailed boy who had just left with a name. "Could it be him?" He thought, still resting his hand against his mother's forehead.

Chapter 2, Ranma meets Kurama head on! And, The Hentai strikes!

Kurama walked down the street, sniffing carefully. As a former demon fox, even in his human form he had an extraordinary sense of smell and he was currently using it to track the strange boy who had brought his mother home earlier that night. As he walked up to a restaurant that he recognised as being owned by a family called the Yukimuras he smelled a strange twisting in the cent of the one he was tracking, the spirit world element getting stronger for a few moments before the scent settled back to normal, only with a distinctly… female… touch to it.

Smelling a large quantity of this newly changed scent inside the restaurant, Kurama walked in to see a redheaded girl wearing an apron over a rather familiar set of Chinese clothes. In fact, he had seen that clothing on the boy who had dropped off his mother. Quirking an eyebrow, Kurama walked over to a corner booth, sitting down there. He knew that his mother would be all right for a few hours, as he had carried her up to her bedroom and she had been sleeping peacefully when he left, So Kurama decided to check out the strange new person he was tracking.

Just as Kurama sat down, a second girl came out of the back of the restaurant to join the redhead, this one with brown hair in two pigtails. The two conversed for a moment before the redhead looked over towards his side of the restaurant and nodded, the other girl proceeding to the other side.

Ranma mentally grumbled to herself as she walked around the restaurant, a small scratch pad in her hand. Why had this been the best job she could get on short notice? True, if she had been able to wait a few weeks she could have gotten a construction assistant job on one of the local construction projects, however she needed money now. It was bad enough being a waitress, but Keiko just had to work with her. If she ever figured out about Ranma's curse, she would probably lose her job, and since Keiko was going to see him at school every day that was more likely than Ranma felt comfortable with.

As she was concentrating about griping to herself, Ranma absent mindedly walked over to a booth and asked, "Can I take your order?" In the most cheerful voice she could manage.

"I'll just have a glass of water, please." Came a strangely familiar voice. Looking up at the person who spoke, a flash of recognition came across Ranma's face which the boy did not miss. Struggling to not show that she had met him once before, Ranma walked back to the kitchen to pass in the orders she had taken.

'Interesting…' Kurama thought, looking after the redhead. 'Is she… he… a shape shifter? I doubt that this is really Tenchi, but why is she taking a form that looks like him?' Resolving to investigate this further, Kurama carefully studied the girl for the rest of his time in the restaurant.

Ranma sighed in relief as she removed the waitressing apron and hung it on a hook in the stock room, heading out the door. She smiled slightly as she felt her full stomach, a by-product of one of the benefits of working for a restaurant. She apparently got a free meal every day. Also, the Yukimuras were really nice, even Keiko who had come off as a bit of a nag at school. Of course, she only seemed to nag Yusuke, so maybe Ranma was missing something. Shrugging it off, she headed out of the restaurant, waving to Keiko and her parents as she left.

"She was a very nice girl." Keiko's mother commented, looking after their new waitress.

"And the girl sure can eat!" Her father exclaimed cheerfully, having never seen someone enjoying his food so much.

Keiko just glared in mild jealousy, as if that girl ate like that all the time, how did she keep her figure like that?

As Ranma sat at the camp fire near her tent boiling water, she finally got tired of the feeling of being watched she had been feeling for the past couple hours. "Whoever you are, you can come out now!" She yelled, glairing around the clearing.

Kurama chuckled as he dropped out of a tree nearby. "Very perceptive, shape shifter."

"Oh. It's you." Ranma commented, figuring that if this guy had followed her all the way to her camp pretending not to know him would be pretty useless. "Shape shifter eh? Well, I guess I am, sort of." She continued, shrugging, as she checked the temperature of the water in the kettle. Seeing that it was hot enough she dumped it over her head, returning to male form. "Ah man. That feels better." He said, stretching out on the ground.

Kurama blinked in surprise. Most creatures that could shape shift didn't need triggers, and they did it a lot slower than this… boy… had. Raising an eyebrow he asked, "how did you do that?"

Ranma shrugged. "I'm cursed."

Kurama raised the eyebrow higher. "Cursed?"

"Yeh. Fell into a cursed spring in China a few weeks ago. This is my normal form. The girl form's my curse."

"Quite beautiful for a curse." Kurama commented, a small smirk coming across his face.

Ranma sputtered in shock. "Whadaya mean by that?"

Kurama shrugged. "Well, you could have turned into an animal or something."

"I guess you're right." Ranma said, looking mildly surprised. "But I'm sure this wasn't why you ended up followin me half way around the district, right?"

Kurama nodded his head slightly. "No, this isn't why I followed you half way around the district. I wanted to know if you knew anyone named "Shuichi or Shiori Minamino?"

Ranma closed his eyes, for some reason both of those names rolling around in his head as if he knew them but couldn't place them anywhere. Then, he remembered a scene of a small red haired boy running after Genma and him in a field and his eyes opened wide. "You're Shuichi…" He said, taking in the other boy's bright red hair. "And the woman I helped today was Shiori right?"

"That's right." Kurama said, standing from his leaning position against a tree and walking towards the other boy. "And if your story about being cursed is true, then I have reason to believe that you are my brother, Tenchi."

"I'm your what?" Ranma said, his eyes widening. The sound of a very young boy calling for a Tenchi as Genma ran through a field ringing through his ears.

The redhead, who Ranma realized looked slightly younger than he did, just shrugged before jumping into the trees. As Kurama left the small clearing in the park where the strange boy's tent was set up, he couldn't help but think a single happy thought. If he really had a brother, Maybe his plans for the forlorn hope could change… and no one would have to die. With a small smile on his lips, Kurama left the park and proceeded towards his home, leaving a confused pigtailed martial artist in his wake.

A week later, after school, Ranma was working in the kitchen of the restaurant. She had managed to get a few good fights in with Yusuke Urameshi and Kuwabara over the last week, and it had been as fun as she thought it would be. Kuwabara wasn't really a very big challenge, as he was a power house who didn't really have enough power to hurt her male form severely, however Yusuke was another matter entirely. Ranma had Usually managed to beat him, but not without suffering a few bruises and a serious bout of exhaustion. Kneeling down under the counter to look for a frying pan as she thought, Ranma didn't notice someone sneaking into the kitchen.

He crept forward, noting the shape of the girl who was kneeling down, with her head stuck into the cupboard under one of the sinks. She was wearing pants instead of a skirt, which was unusual, however she did wear the signature waitress's smock. With a grin on his face, He walked up to scare the living daylights out of the one who he only considered a nag, and a friend at best…. Not to mention cop a feel. Reaching forward, Yusuke clamped his hands around the girl's waist and fondled her breast.

Now, there's something about human instincts that you really must note. Although some basic instincts are the same, Males and females have a different set of hard coded responses to certain stimuli. Now, despite what she may say about it, Ranma Saotome was currently a female of the species, Even if she had a set of tastes which only about ten percent of said side of the species also had, and as such an instinctive response to having one of her breasts groped by an unknown assailant kicked in.

Spinning around, Ranma brought her hand up, not in a punch but a hard and stinging slap. Catching sight of the face of her attacker, she yelled, "Yusuke you freaking Pervert!"

Yusuke Urameshi stumbled backwards, his face turning a shade of red that made the hand print on the side seem pale in comparison. "Um… Hello there… I'm sorry about that. I thought you were Keiko and…" He said, his blush becoming worse.

"SO ya wanted ta grope Keiko, eh?" Ranma asked, cracking her knuckles.

Yusuke gulped nervously. Just then, Keiko entered the room, seeing the new waitress standing over a cowering toughest guy in Sarayashiki Jr. High… Well, ever since that Ranma guy had come along that was debatable, but that was beside the point. "Ranko?" She asked, causing the red haired girl to divert her attention from the doomed punk. "What did he do?"

After Ranma had explained, Keiko proceeded to slap Yusuke on the other side of the face and drag him out of the kitchen, where she yelled at him.

Shrugging the strange incident off, Ranma went back to cooking.

The next morning, Ranma walked into school cracking his knuckles. "Hey Urameshi!" He called, having gotten used to everyone's use of last names around here.

"Hey Ranma." Yusuke said, walking towards him. Just as he said that, Ranma attacked and the two began a morning fight that had occurred many times the week before. This time, however, Ranma seemed slightly pissed at Yusuke and his punches were coming hard and fast.

"H… Hey Ranma. What's wrong man?" Yusuke said, dodging out of the other boy's way. Ranma just kept attacking him. Noticing that Ranma was paying less attention to style and more to plain old brawling than usual, Yusuke used the openings that the other boy left in his defences to start pummelling him in his weak points.

After about five minutes of fighting, Yusuke finally managed to bring Ranma down. Normally, This would make him rather happy, however the other boy didn't seem nearly as worth fighting today. Sighing, Yusuke left his battered opponent on the ground.

"Hey Ranma. You all right?" Kuwabara asked, finding his second rival sprawled out on the ground at the school's front gate the same way he had been many times. Sighing, He slung the older boy over his broad shoulders and carried him into the school grounds and towards the nurse's office. Having a second person who was better than him annoyed Kuwabara, however it had also mellowed him slightly. After learning that Ranma would sooner tear off his own fingers than blackmail the student population he had become a bit more relaxed about his gang's superiority. He knew that Ranma, and Even maybe Yusuke, would help him if he needed it and he also knew that he himself could pummel any gang leader around if he needed to.

Later that day, Yusuke sat on the roof while flicking a stone at a wall. Man, he was bored… Really bored. He had had a good fight that day, but as a result of it he had needed to rest for a while and had ended up in class. When Ewamoto, the pain in the ass, had caught him sleeping and sent him out to the hall, he had just said screw it and come up to the roof. As another pebble bounced off of the wall to the stair well Yusuke heard someone's footsteps. Looking over, He caught sight of Keiko, wearing the standard blue school dress of Sarayashiki. "Hey Keiko. Nice skirt." He said, as he flicked a stone so that it rustled the skirt.

Keiko growled as she held her hands against the front of the dress, glaring at Yusuke. "It's part of the uniform. You know, Girls wear blue dresses and boys wear blue jump suits. Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that." She said, looking over Yusuke's outfit.

"I look better in green anyways." Yusuke said, smirking. "Besides. You don't harp at Ranma for not wearing the uniform."

Keiko sighed. "Ranma is a lost cause. After all, he should be in high school and he's in our class. You on the other hand still have a chance and It makes my job as a class rep harder when you don't even wear the uniform. Sometimes I think you only care about yourself and you don't even do that right!" Just as she said this, Keiko felt a small draft on her upper legs. Turning around, She saw Yusuke lifting her skirt. Angrily, she slapped him, causing him to stagger off. "Jeas Yusuke. You're such a perv. First Ranko and then me… Go off and Die!"

Yusuke just swayed away, a bright red hand print swelling where Ranma's had been the night before. It took him five minutes to get his balance back and then he shook his head rapidly. "Jeas. I take a beating from Ranma or Kuwabara and I'm fine. She slaps me and I'm out of it for five minutes. What's with that, anyways?" he thought, as he walked down the stairs and out of the front gate of the school. Just as he did, a solid, meaty hand landed on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Mr. Takanaka. After a lecture about staying in school, Yusuke used a fake ear to escape and walked home.

Ranma groaned as he rubbed his forehead, sitting up in the bed at the nurse's office. 'What the heck happened?' He wondered, swinging his legs over the side. As he thought that, memories of his fight with Yusuke came into his mind. 'Man, I can't believe I lost so bad to Yusuke.' He thought, wrinkling his nose. 'I Shouldn't have lost control like that, but jeas.' Muttering to himself angrily, Ranma walked out of the nurse's office and towards class.

"Ah. If it isn't the second delinquent punk of this class." Mr. Ewamoto said, sneering at Ranma.

Ranma gritted his teeth, walking to the back and not saying anything.

"So, why are you so late Mr. Ranma?" Ewamoto said, looking at him as if he were some sort of scum.

"Got into a fight with Urameshi." Ranma grumbled, sliding into his seat.

"Showing your true colours, I see." Ewamoto said, clucking his tongue mournfully. Ranma's fingers tightened on the edge of his desk.

Keiko looked to the back of the room worriedly as she heard a groaning sound, seeing small cracks forming in the top of Ranma's desk. Deciding to save something, If it was Ranma or his desk she didn't know, she spoke up. "Um… Sir? Shouldn't we get back to class?"

"Quite right Miss Yukimura. Quite right." Mr. Ewamoto said, turning to the board where there was a chemical science equation written.

Meanwhile, on a street somewhere, Yusuke wandered aimlessly. Noticing that there was a group of people blocking his way, he looked up to them. "Wow. If it isn't Kuwabara." He said, in a cheerful voice.

"You may have beaten Ranma today but I'm gunna pound ya." Kuwabara said, cracking his knuckles.

Snarling, Yusuke walked up to Kuwabara, cracking his knuckles as well. "Sorry Kuwabara. But you caught me on a bad day. On bad days I'm a bit of a Jerk!" Saying this, Yusuke proceeded to beat the living crap out of Kuwabara.

After Yusuke left, Kuwabara's friends helped him to his feet. "Maybe you shouldn't keep challenging him like that." One said, holding his shoulders.

"Yeh. At least when you fight Ranma he doesn't hurt you too bad." Another said, pulling him up by the hand.

"No. Urameshi's beaten me one hundred and fifty three times by now but I'm still not giving up."

His friends sighed in exasperation as he struggled to his feat and staggered off.

A couple blocks away, Yusuke was trying to cheer up a little boy. He had just yelled at him for playing ball on a busy street and the kid had begun to cry. There were a few soft spots in Yusuke Urameshi, even if he would never admit it. One was his mother, another was Keiko and a third was crying kids. Rocking from one foot to another, his head twisted on a strange angle and his tongue sticking out, Yusuke was pleased to see the child smile and clap happily. 'At least I can cheer up little kids.' He thought, before straightening up and walking on.

After about fifteen seconds of walking, Yusuke heard the screeching of a car's breaks. Spinning, He saw the little boy in the middle of the road and reaching for a ball as a small car came speeding towards him. "Oh shit!" he cursed, before diving for the child in order to get him out of the way. The last thing Yusuke saw before his world became blackness and pain was a scared little boy resting on the ground, just a few inches away from the bumper of a stopped car.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the writing delay. Watching the last bit of EVA in order to help with angel of light.

Chapter 3. Yusuke Urameshi, Death.

Yusuke Urameshi was having a rather bad day. First, he had gotten in a fight with Keiko, then Kuwabara and his mother and now he had been run over by a car. Factor in that some strange death spirit lady was telling him that he had an "Ordeal" to go through and he was ready to give up completely.

"Look, Botan or whatever your name is. I don't WANT my life back, all right? Like you said earlier, all I was was a juvenile delinquent." He said the last words with a slight twist of derision. "Why WOULD I want my life back?"

Botan looked slightly frustrated herself. This Yusuke boy had been rude to her ever since he had met her and now he was turning down a chance to come back to life? "Look Yusuke. I'm sure there's SOMETHING left for you." She said, throwing up her hands. "Don't turn down the idea right away, Okay. Let's go and see a few things first." As she said this, Botan took off, causing Yusuke to instinctively grab onto the end of her ore.

"I already made my decision!" Yusuke yelled, but Botan was oblivious to his objections.

HR

As Ranma walked down the street, he looked to the form next to him in concern. Kuwabara was clenching and unclenching his teeth, growling softly. "I can't believe that Urameshi." Kuwabara muttered, clenching his fists tighter. "Dieing before I could beat 'im!"

Ranma looked at his friend in slack jawed amazement. "What?" He asked, blinking. "What do ya mean by that?" The two boys had heard of Yusuke's death from Keiko, who had apparently gone to find him when he had left school. Apparently, he had died while saving a little boy from dieing on a street somewhere. There was going to be a wake for him that night and Ranma supposed that he should go. After all, even if they had only known each other for a bit over a week, Yusuke was one of Ranma's closer friends. "Kuwabara, I think you should calm down." He said, trying to get the other boy to stop clenching his fists before he broke something.

"No way. That scum bag was too much of a coward to fight me!" Kuwabara yelled, before starting to run.

"What?" Ranma asked, running after Kuwabara. Due to the other boy's surprise head start Ranma found it hard to catch up to him, but he did so as Kuwabara reached Yusuke's house. "Kuwabara. Stop." He said, trying to grab the other boy and keep him from yelling at a corpse.

Kuwabara just brushed Ranma off, surprising the older boy with his determination, and walked into the house. "Urameshi! How could you die before I had a chance ta even our score. You cowardly bastard!" To Ranma's surprise, Kuwabara then lunged into the living room of Yusuke's home, swinging out with a fist that came just barely short of smashing into the picture of the now deceased Urameshi before he crumbled into a mass of tears.

"Kuwabara…" Ranma said, watching the other boy in a state of stunned silence.

Yusuke looked on from his position hovering over the assembled funeral guests, gaping. Keiko was crying in a corner, along with his mother, while Kuwabara pretty much went insane. Even Ranma, someone who he hadn't known for very long, seemed to be saddened at his death. Then, he heard two men nearby who were talking among themselves. They were two of Yusuke's teachers, Mr. Ewamoto and Mr. Akagi.

"Those are just a bunch of Yusuke's Punk friends." Ewamoto said, glaring at Ranma and Kuwabara.

"Yes. It's too bad that car wasn't big enough for the two of them as well. You know, I bet Urameshi wasn't even really trying to help that kid, but stealing his lunch money." Akagi said with a soft chuckle. Yusuke clenched his teeth, ready to beat the crap out of him, when Mr. Takanaka walked up behind the two of them clasping each on the shoulder. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Mr. Urameshi gave his life to save a child and this is how you speak of the dead? I have more respect for that boy who's crying for the loss of his friend than I have for you at the moment." After saying this, Takanaka walked off, leaving the other two speechless.

"Yeh!" Yusuke said, pumping his fist into the air. "Who'd a thought that Takanaka liked me." After saying this, Yusuke floated into the main house, following Mr. Takanaka past the crying forms of Keiko and Kuwabara. As he went in, he saw the teacher offer a prayer at the picture that was set up and then express his sympathy for Yusuke's mother. After the teacher left, Ranma walked in and did the same.

As Ranma looked at the face of Yusuke's crying mother, he remembered what a strange red haired boy had told him a week ago. An image of the woman who he had taken home after her fainting spell seemed to blur over Yusuke's mother's face and Ranma wondered if she had grieved like this when her son had disappeared. Briefly offering his condolences, he left the room.

As Yusuke watched the crowds, including the little boy and his mother, leave the house, he floated into the air.

"So, what did you think?" Botan asked, floating down next to him on her ore.

"Fine." Yusuke grumbled, looking up at the girl. "I'll do it."

"Great!" Botan said, grabbing Yusuke by the hand and pulling him as she flew into the sky.

"Where are we going?" Yusuke demanded as the two flew.

"To see King Enma, of course." Botan explained, still going.

"We're going to see a king?" Yusuke asked, before the two disappeared through a portal. On the ground below them, Ranma looked up in surprise as he thought he heard a shout. Shaking his head, he continued down the street to the park where his camp was still set up. For some reason, No one seemed to object to someone setting up his tent in their park, however Ranma wasn't certain how long that would last. Brushing aside those thoughts, Ranma began to think about something that he had avoided for the last week. That being the things that the strange red haired boy had told him. Now, apparently, Ranma knew where his birth family was but could they accept him back after all of this time? Would his real mother accept his curse and where was his father, anyways? Seeing the image of Mrs. Urameshi's tear streaked face, Ranma couldn't bare to think that he may have caused a similar reaction in someone at one time. With an increasing resolve, Ranma decided that he was going to see the Minaminos tomorrow.

HR

The next day, Shuichi Minamino was getting ready to go and see his mother. She had, after her last fainting incident, finally agreed to go to the hospital and stop worrying him. Unfortunately, now he was more worried. The doctors only gave her about three weeks to live and they had never seen the condition she was suffering from before. His resolve to do what he needed to grew as he thought about this, and he finished pulling on his shoes, heading for the front door. As he reached it, he heard a knocking sound.

Opening the door, Shuichi saw a black haired boy with a pigtail standing there.

"So you decided to come back?" He asked, in a soft tone.

"Yeh." Ranma said, shrugging. "If what ya told me's right then I figured I should."

Shuichi nodded before exiting the house. "Well then, we should go to the hospital to see mother."

"The hospital?" Ranma asked, following the other boy as he walked down the street.

"Yes. The fainting spell that you found her in was a symptom of a larger problem. I'm afraid that she's had to be admitted to the hospital."

Ranma frowned worriedly as he followed Shuichi towards the district medical centre.

HR

Yusuke smirked as he thought of how he was going to beat up the big and ugly lord of spirit world while Botan looked bemused. Her charge kept muttering about how he was going to destroy King Enma, and it was rather disconcerting to her. Before hitting the button to enter the main office, she turned around to face Yusuke. "Now Yusuke, we aren't going to see King Enma, but his son Koenma. Be VERY polite because he is the son of the ruler of Spirit world." She explained, looking at Yusuke warningly.

"All right already. I heard you before." Yusuke complained, holding his hands up in warding signs.

Botan looked worried before she touched the intercom panel and spoke. "Koenma sir, this is Botan with Yusuke Urameshi." There was a buzzing sound and the door slid open, revealing a room full of ogres franticly running around in order to sort out the affairs of the dead.

Looking around, Yusuke looked confused. "Um, Botan. Where's this Koenma guy?"

"I'm down here. Came a voice from near Yusuke's knee caps. "What?" Yusuke muttered, looking down to see what looked like a young child with a pacifier in it's mouth.

"Koenma's a…." Yusuke said, his mouth open in shock. "Toddler?"

"I AM NOT A TODLER!" Koenma yelled, pulling off a nice imitation of the Tendo Family special Technique, Demon head.

"Okay, Okay! You're not a toddler. Jeas." Yusuke muttered, making placating gestures with his hands.

"I apologise Koenma sir. Yusuke is rather rude." Botan said, trying to cover for Yusuke's mouth.

"Hey!" Yusuke protested, before being shut up with a glair.

"Well, that's all right. You had just better not do that again Mr. Urameshi." Koenma said, hopping up on a chair at a desk in the middle of the room. It should be noted that there were several telephone books stacked on the chair so that the diminutive ruler could see over his desk. "Well, to get on to business. The reason I called you in here is…"

HR

Yusuke hovered in the sky of Tokyo, holding a spirit egg. "I can't believe this." He muttered, looking around. How the heck am I supposed to get them to stop the funeral?"

Well," Botan said, from her position next to Yusuke, "You could try to posses someone in order to get your message across.

"Possess? Like in those bad horror movies?" Yusuke asked, blinking.

"Yes. If you can find someone with a strong source of spirit energy or affinity with the spirit world you can possess them, with a little help from me of course."

"…Okay, so where do I find someone like that?" Yusuke asked, looking confused.

HR

Ranma headed back towards his park home, feeling slightly depressed. He had gone to the hospital with Shuichi, as he had found out the boy was named, but Shiori wasn't awake. He had gotten to see her but that was about it. As he looked around for something to do other than just head home and train for the rest of the day, Ranma noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye. Running towards it, he looked up to see what he could have sworn was an outline of a human figure. "What the heck is this?" Ranma asked, reaching out to touch the figure.

"I think we found our receptive person." Botan said, as Ranma reached out and passed a hand through Yusuke's incorporeal form.

"Really?" Yusuke asked, sarcastically.. "I couldn't tell."

"Oh, shut up." Botan growled, getting slightly annoyed with Yusuke's attitude. "All right. I'm preparing his body for possession now. You only have about an hour, so be quick."

"All right. I'm ready." Yusuke said, as he felt a sucking sensation. Ranma blinked in surprise as he felt himself go limp and his mind began to fall unconscious. 'What the heck's goin on?' He thought, before his eyes closed and then re-opened, a different force behind the controls.

"All right." Yusuke said, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I've got a body again. Now I've gotta go tell someone not to berry me." Running off, Yusuke decided to go and find Keiko.

Yusuke looked around trying to find Keiko, having been running for ten minutes. She wasn't at school and she wasn't at his place. He thought that he could have asked his mom but she was pretty smashed and he didn't think she would have remembered. As he tried to consider what to do next, Yusuke completely missed a rather large bucket of water that someone had left out on the sidewalk in front of their house, planting a foot in it. "What the hell?" He muttered, as he felt a twisting and tingling sensation, withdrawing his foot from the bucket. After doing this, Yusuke stumbled forwards and desperately tried to correct his balance. For some reason, he felt unusually off balance. Falling flat on his face he felt a rather painful sensation on his chest, as if he were crushing something sensitive.

Struggling to his feet, still very off balance, Yusuke looked down to see a pair of rather large breasts sticking forward in Ranma's loose red Chinese shirt. "What the hell?" He muttered, noticing the high pitched voice that came from his mouth. "Did Ranma just turn into a girl?" Deciding that he could think about this little bit of weirdness later, Yusuke began to search for Keiko again but found it rather hard to move quickly as he kept losing his balance. A possessing being gets the basic instructions on how to move it's new form, but Ranma's curse hadn't really been planned for and Yusuke had no idea how to compensate for the completely different sensations that he was now experiencing. As a result, he wasted about half an hour getting used to how to walk correctly before resuming his search, only twenty minutes to spare.

After another five minutes of searching, Yusuke figured out that he should probably go to the Yukimuras' place to ask where Keiko was. Quickly traveling there, he walked in only to see Mr. Yukimura waving at him cheerfully. "Ah, if it isn't our new waitress." He said, holding up a plate that he was washing. "How are you doing Ranko san?"

Yusuke stopped for a second and looked confused. It was actually quite a good thing that Keiko's father had spoken first, or he would have said something stupid like insisting he was Yusuke even if he was quite clearly a girl at the moment. "Um…. Hi Mr. Yukimura. Do you know where Keiko is?" He tried, in stead.

"Oh yes. She's out with her friends a couple of stores away." The man said, cheerfully.

"Thanks!" Yusuke said, running out of the store.

"I wonder what she wanted Keiko for?" Mr. Yukimura said as he laid the dish he had been washing on a table.

HR

A few blocks away, Kuwabara dodged to the left as an opponent came down trying to kick him in the head. All of Yusuke's old enemies had decided that now was the perfect time to attack since he was gone and the red haired boy had been trying to defend his part of the city. He had been mostly successful, but it was tiring work. 'Damn it Urameshi, I wish you were here.' He thought, delivering a strong punch to another rival gang member and knocking him through a loop.

HR

Keiko stood near a shop waiting for her friends to come out. They had insisted on going there but she wasn't really interested in the stuff that was sold so she decided to wait outside. As she waited, she felt something snaking around her back. As she gasped and began to turn, she heard a voice.

"Nice school uniform." The voice said, before squeezing a breast. "Ooh, squishy."

Yusuke you pervert!" Keiko yelled, before turning and lashing out with a hand to where Yusuke's cheek should be. To her surprise, her hand smacked a red haired girl in the top of the head.

"Hi Keiko." The girl said, rubbing the spot where she was hit.

"R… Ranko? Why did you do that?" Keiko asked, angrily.

"No Keiko. You were right the first time. I'm Yusuke." The girl said, before starting to chuckle. "I don't care what anyone says. Your punches hurt the worst."

"You're… Yusuke?" Keiko asked, in a state of disbelief. "This is a really sick joke." She said, beginning to cry..

"Keiko. Please don't cry. I'm serious!" The redhead said, desperately trying to calm Keiko down. This was a very familiar gesture, as Yusuke had always done it whenever Keiko cried, no matter how tough he tried to act.

"You… really are Yusuke, aren't you?" She asked, and then blinked. "But why do you look like Ranko?"

"Look. I possessed someone's body so that I could tell you a message, and I gotta give it back in a few minutes so listen up. Stop mom from having the funeral. I'm taking a test to get back to life but it's gunna take me a while. I'm trying as hard as I can but you HAVE TO stop mom from burying me. Got it?"

Keiko nodded numbly, before running forward and hugging the shorter girl. It felt really weird, especially since she had to hold her in her arms as she was taller, but Keiko didn't care. Then, she had to ask. "Yusuke. Why did you possess a girl's body. You aren't THAT much of a pervert, are you?" She giggled at the end.

"No. I didn't mean to possess a girl's body. Believe it or not, when I first took over this body it was a guy. That Ranma guy from school." Yusuke explained, looking confused. "I don't know why it changed but…" Yusuke suddenly stopped talking and his small body suddenly tensed up.

Ranma came to awareness in female form and with a girl hugging her. Looking up to see who it was, she saw Keiko's face. "Um… Keiko? What's goin on?"

Keiko released Ranma and stepped back. "N… Nothing. I'm sorry about that." She stammered, blushing slightly. She realized that Yusuke must have released the body when they were hugging and Ranko had regained control during the embrace. Then there was that strange comment Yusuke had made, but she just shrugged it off as him trying to get out of being caught in the act of being a bit of a pervert, which she didn't mind as long as he came back. Running off down the street, Keiko left Ranma blinking in her dust.

"What the heck was that about?" Ranma asked, before shrugging and starting back to her camp. It was getting late, after all.

END,

Notes:

Ranma's intelligence: Ranma is NOT dumber than he was normally. He merely had to take a proficiency test with no preparation. You ALWAYS score lower on those things than your basic academics. The way he got past this in the Manga and Anime was having school records that showed his previous marks, so that he could just enrol in the next year of classes. I have had the same type of test that I mentioned Ranma taking and I scored a full grade level lower than I actually am. I should also mention that I am an all right student so it wasn't me just being stupid.

Continuity: Sorry, but this story's going to start as a re-telling of Yu Yu Hakusho with a new character. There will be new behind the scenes stuff but it won't really diverge much for at least the Yukina's tears arc. Prolly start getting different around the dark tournament. Funny thing is, I've never SEEN the DT arc so this should be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Man, blowing off the dust on this fic may or may not be a good idea, I don't know… I had no choice but to write this chapter, it made me do it… My question, does anyone still like this fic? My god, I haven't even written a new chapter of this in a year… damn…

Chapter 4, untitled.

Ranma opened his eyes and poked his head out from inside of his tent, to see some sort of horrible monster looking at him, laying on the ground in front of him. With a surprised yell, he fled back into his tent, getting dressed and trying to figure out what the lumped, battered and distorted thing was.

As he was pulling his red shirt over his head, he heard it groan. "You okay?" He asked it, thinking that the groan sounded almost familiar.

"Ranma, is that you?" Came the weak response, from outside the tent.

"Kuwabara?" Ranma responded, now finally placing the familiar groaning. Grabbing his first aid kit from a pile of supplies near the door, he crawled out of the tent, being careful not to aggravate the wounds that covered his classmate's body. Beginning to look them over, he whistled softly. "I don't even think I looked this bad after Genma threw me off a cliff." He commented, carefully reaching out to dab one of the cuts with disinfectant. "How'd you get this banged up?"

Kuwabara winced as he felt the stinging pain of the disinfectant touching his body, then spoke. "Well, ever since Urameshi… Ever since he left, all sortsa guys decided to take over this neighborhood. I spent most of yesterday fighting them off."

"So I guess you lost then?" Ranma asked, feeling sympathetic. He always felt like crap every time someone bested him in martial arts, and thought that Kuwabara would probably feel the same.

"You kiddin? I kicked all their butts!" Kuwabara responded, raising a fist in victory before whimpering, and carefully lowering it.

"Erm, yeah." Ranma said, shaking his head. If this was the winner, he would have hated to see the other guys. "You gunna make it to school?"

Kuwabara nodded, before dragging himself to his feet, and attempting to take a step forward. Teetering to one side, and then the other, he keeled over only to be caught by Ranma. "Maybe you shouldn't go."

"I've gotta. I promised Shizuru that I'd try to get to school more often after I missed a few days because of Urameshi. If she finds out that I skipped school because I got hurt in a fight…" Kuwabara said, before shivering.

Ranma briefly thought about asking who Shizuru was, but shook his head. "All right then, let's get going." He said, slinging the orange haired boy's arm over his shoulder.. "Did you spend the whole night passed out in front of my tent?"

Kuwabara tried to shrug, but found that pretty difficult with one arm over Ranma's back. "I don't remember." He said, sheepishly. As the two left the park that Ranma had been camped in and started down the main street that lead to Sarayashiki, a group of three boys came around the corner, looking worried.

"I know Kuwabara was around here when he told us to leave yesterday." One of them said, as he looked to the others.

"Why did you have to run away, Okubo?" Another one asked, angrily.

"I didn't see you standing up to defend us yesterday either, Kirishima." Okubo responded, annoyed. "Besides, I didn't think he was going to stay there and fight all of them!"

"Hey guys, there he is!" Said a third boy, pointing to where Ranma and Kuwabara were walking. "I think that older guy found him."

"Who are those guys?" Ranma asked, as the three boys ran towards him.

"Those are my friends. We defend this area from jerks who go around blackmailing kids and stuff." Kuwabara explained.

"Kinda wimpy lookin ain't they?" Ranma asked, surveying the three, the strongest of them looking as if ten or fifteen of him could be a bit of a problem.

"You shut up!" Kuwabara yelled, almost making Ranma drop him in surprise.

"All right, yeash. Remember who's carrying you here." Ranma responded, glaring, before walking up to join Kuwabara's three friends.

HR

Yusuke reclined in mid-air, looking at the egg that contained his ticket to rebirth in boredom. It was pretty annoying that spirits didn't have to sleep, and as a result, he had been up all night with nothing to do.

What was worse, he couldn't do any of the stuff he may have wanted to do if he could go through walls at night, since any evil energy could turn the creature in the egg he was holding into a Yusukavore. Noticing that Keiko, who's house he had been watching for the past ten minutes, had finally left and was heading to school, he began to float along behind her.

Botan had gone off somewhere to look up information on precisely what had gone on last night with Ranma, and as a result, wasn't there to bug him.

Floating in to listen to Keiko, who was muttering to herself about something, he noticed that there was a group of guys coming up the street from the other direction. He was about to shrug this off, when he realized that the guys were in school uniforms from another district, and looked a little mean. Also, Keiko had just happened to wander out of the residential section and through a street full of closed businesses as a shortcut to school.  
He groaned as he saw what he knew was going to happen, happen.

"Hey girl, what're you doing hangin around here?" One of the guys, a rather sleazy looking boy with slicked back brown hair, asked with a small grin.

"I'm going to school, not that it's any of your business." Keiko responded, annoyed. She wasn't in the best of moods this morning. True, last night she had found out that Yusuke was going to come back to life, but she had also somehow ended up in an intimate embrace with a waitress from her family restaurant. She didn't want to know what she was going to say to explain that to Ranko, or her parents if the redhead happened to mention it to them. 'Yusuke, why do you always do things to embarrass me?' She thought, before being brought out of her thoughts by the greasy haired kid.

"You're going to school are ya? Well, yer gunna have to pay the fee to get past this street, lady." He said, with a small smirk.

"I'm not going to pay you!" Keiko said, angrily. Who the heck did this guy think he was? This kind of stuff had never happened around here before.

"That's just what I wanted to hear." The kid said, as he stalked forward. For a second, Keiko could have sworn that she saw an angry Yusuke punching the guy in the head, but the image faded away almost as quickly as she saw it. She backed away slowly, as the gang of other kids began to circle around, cutting off her only means of escape. There were only five of them, but considering her only really powerful offensive ability only seemed to work against Yusuke, she doubted that she could get away.

"Hey, wadda you guys think you're doing?" Came a voice, low, gravely and angry from the end of the street. The gang turned, only to see an orange haired boy glaring at them angrily, from his position being held over the shoulder of an older black haired one.

"Hey, look guys. It's the famous Kuwabara Kazuma, and he's all beaten up!" The greasy haired kid said, laughing, as he pointed at the orange haired boy. "I guess that without Urameshi, Sarayashiki's just fulla losers!"

Kuwabara snarled, as he pushed off of Ranma, standing up and taking a few steps forward. "Says the guy who's harassing innocent girls!" He said, attempting to charge forward with a hammer blow, only to fall to the ground. "…ow…"

"Pathetic, why don't you guys get lost now that your leader's passed out." The greasy haired boy said, looking at Ranma and Kuwabara's three friends.

"Nah, I don't think I will." Ranma said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. "I mean, Keiko's sorta my friend, and it's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak. of course, that's the only good piece of advice my ol' Sensei gave me." With that, he launched himself forward at the group of five boys, blurring into action.

Three minutes later, there were five unconscious guys on the ground, and a grinning Ranma standing next to Keiko. "You okay, Keiko?" He asked, before a sudden memory of being held in the girl's arms the day before came to him, and he looked away, blushing.

"I'm fine, thanks Ranma." Keiko said, looking at the pigtailed boy, puzzled. Why was he blushing like that? Also, she had hardly ever spoken to him other than to give him a slightly disapproving glance every time he came into school without the proper uniform, so she wondered what he had meant by her being one of his friends. "Well, I should probably get going to class, I've got to get some reports ready before it starts."

Ranma nodded absently, as the brown haired girl ran off.

HR

From the air above the events that had just taken place, Yusuke sighed in relief. For a few minutes, he had forgotten that he was incorporeal, trying to beat the crap out of the people who had been ready to hurt Keiko. Fortunately, Ranma and Kuwabara had shown up to help her out.

"Aren't you a little bit worried?" Came a voice, from right next to Yusuke's ear.

"Gah!" The black haired boy yelled, almost falling out of the air. "How'd you do that?" He demanded, glaring at the blue haired spirit of death that was floating serenely on her oar where he had once been.

Botan giggled. "It was really easy. You were so occupied with looking at Keiko as she walked away, after all."

"I wasn't looking at Keiko!" Yusuke yelled, indignantly.

"Okay, so you're not worried then." Botan replied, nodding.

"About what?" Yusuke asked, annoyed.

"Well, Ranma just swooped in and saved her, like a knight in shining armor, vanquishing the evil bad guys." Botan then sighed. "It's a little romantic actually."

"Of course I'm not worried, she likes Ranma even less than she likes me." Yusuke said, but Botan couldn't help but notice a small amount of worry on his face. "So did you find out what happened yesterday?" he said, attempting to change the subject.

"Yes, and you don't have to worry about any side effects, or that you did something to him, either." Botan said, holding up a large brown leather book that she had pulled out of seemingly nowhere.

"So what did happen?" Yusuke demanded, impatiently.

"Well…" Botan said, flipping open the book to a bookmark near the middle. "According to this, a person who changes forms based on water temperature is probably a 'combined soul.' They are created in a valley in China called 'Jusenkyo,' and usually involve a human who allows an animal spirit from the spirit world to express itself through his or her own physical form. This is usually done in exchange for a heightened sense of the spirit world, mainly for people who have almost no Reiki ability, but desperately wish for it. The condition is that the Reiki ability bestowed is usually related to the animal that the person combined their soul with." Closing the book, she shrugged.

"So basically Ranma agreed to let himself turn into a girl when wet so he could get spirit power?" Yusuke asked, looking confused.

"Bingo!" Botan yelled, grinning. "…Although I don't know how he ended up turning into a girl. It says that the springs choose who falls into them and he really doesn't seem all that feminine."

"Yeah, poor guy." Yusuke said, looking down at Ranma, who was now far in the distance carrying Kuwabara, in sympathy.

"And what's that supposed to mean!" Botan yelled, actually annoyed.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Yusuke said, grinning mockingly.

Botan growled, but it was more cute than intimidating.

"You know, they really should have gotten those scary looking guys with the scythes to do your job. I mean girls who say 'bingo' all the time just aren't that scary." Yusuke said, right before Botan hit him up side the head with her oar.

HR

He stumbled through the darkness, his clothes caked with dust. "Where… Where am I now?" He panted, as he saw a form before him.

"You," the form said, as it stepped into the light, "Are in a large amount of trouble."

"Who are you?" Ryoga Hibiki asked, as he backed away from the form in front of him. It looked almost like a cross between a man and a cat, accept for the grey, tiger patterned skin and the dark brown hair that flowed down it's back. He turned the other direction, and began to run.

"Get back here, human!" Byakko, one of the four saint beasts, roared as he began to chase the bandana clad boy. That boy must have gotten into the castle somehow, and he certainly wasn't one of the cultivated humans. If he could just find out how he had gotten through the barrier, he and his three fellow saint beasts could be free. As he skidded around one corner in hot pursuit of the boy, his clawed feet dug into the ground, and he gaped in astonishment.

The human had disappeared, leaving no sign. "Where ARE you?!" He yelled, causing the corridor around him to tremble. As it did so, a large rock came free of the roof, landing squarely on the large beast man's head.

HR

Ryoga sighed as he stopped yet again. He had been running into strange things like that large tiger man for the past few weeks. Somehow, it seemed that ever since he had been pushed into that spring by that damned redhead and her panda, he had been getting lost in stranger and stranger places. Right now, it looked like he was pretty safe. There wasn't anything around that he could see other than a clear Plexiglas wall. Walking towards it and putting a hand against it, he heard a rumbling noise from behind him.

Turning around, he saw that something was walking out of a dark corner in the room that he was in. Something big… "First I'm gunna get that girl, then I'm gunna get Ranma!" he growled, unslinging his battle umbrella, which already had many dings in it from previous encounters, to take down whatever threat was coming from the shadows.

HR

Kuwabara winced as Ranma let out his second sneeze in the past three seconds. The jolting kinda hurt. "You ain't catching a cold, are you?" He asked, slightly concerned.

"Nah, I'm fine. Someone must be talkin about me." Ranma responded, rubbing his nose.

END.

Before someone brings up arguments against Jusenkyo's function, this is NOT, I repeat NOT the normal Ranmaverse. It's not the normal YYHverse either, for that matter, EG:Shuichi's father dieing before Shuichi was born rather than at age eight… Please remember this before yelling. If you have taken this into account, then by all means yell. 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes: This is short, and not all that good, IMHO. I'm writing and submitting it to get out of an irritatingly constant loop of writing and discarding that I've been doing of late. I've written so much in the last month, and it's all been garbage. This was the best of the best of it, and I hope it breaks my pseudo writer's block. Tell me what you think of it.

Some of this chapter, notably the last bit of thinking from Kurama, is a little depressing. I'm sorry about that.

Oh, I've also got a forum for my stories now. My rationale about Ranma's power is posted there, and any more debates on the subject should, preferably, be posted there as well. THX.

Chapter 5, The Minamino family reunion!

Ranma threw a bowl, putting a small spin on it as she aimed it at a table. The customers at the table clapped as it settled without spilling a drop of the soup that was in it, and Keiko giggled from her place at the counter behind the redhead. "You're such a show off." She said, jokingly.

"Nah, I'm just that good." Ranma grinned, as she puffed her chest out. A few days before, she had gotten bored with the steady and mechanical passing out of food to the customers, and had started balancing plates of rolls on her head, or juggling rice balls, or pretty much anything to keep her entertained. Keiko enjoyed it as much as the customers, and her father just loved it, as the novelty act seemed to draw more patrons than the restaurant was used to.

As she took a plate of rice balls over to a table in the normal, non anything goes manner, Ranma thought about the events of this morning, and finding Kuwabara beaten half to death in front of her tent. She had heard something from Keiko later about his whole gang being screamed at by Mr. Ewamoto, and had privately wondered why she hadn't been among the victims of his tirade. Of course, the punks that she'd attacked hadn't really gotten a very good look at her, at the time him, but it was still strange. She was drawn out of her train of thought by the sound of the front door opening, and looked over to see a red haired boy entering.

"Hello, Ranko." The red haired boy said, grinning as he caught a look at the nametag on Ranma's waitress's uniform.

The pigtailed martial artist stopped and walked up to him. "What's up, Shuichi?" She returned, deciding that she'd get him back for that later.

"The doctors called." He said, evenly. "They told me that mother had woken up."

"Really?" Ranma asked, her eyes widening. "Just a sec, I can get off work for this, I think." Running to the back, she surprised Keiko's mother who was cooking furiously.

"Ranko, do you have another order?" The older woman asked, smiling.

"No Mrs. Yukimura, I'm sorry but somethin's come up, and I really gotta go." Ranma said, excitedly. She hadn't met her mother yet, well aside from seeing her while she was unconscious, and had been looking forward to this ever since she had found out that she'd somehow found her family.

"Oh my, is there something wrong Ranko dear?" Mrs. Yukimura asked, worriedly.

"Um, no but I gotta go take care of something with my family, can I go please?" Ranma asked, shooting a look back to where Shuichi was waiting.

"Yes, go. We can survive with Keiko alone for the rest of the night, although I'm sure Hikaru will be disappointed that he won't get to see you eat his meals." Mrs. Yukimura said, with a grin. Ranma just grinned back gratefully, before taking off the apron that made up her uniform and hanging it on a hook. She then quickly turned and ran off, dragging Shuichi with her.

"Hey mom, do you know why Ranko ran off so fast?" Keiko asked, poking her head into the back room.

"She said something about a family problem." Mrs. Yukimura said, offhand. It wasn't really my place to ask anymore.

Keiko frowned. She could have sworn that Ranko had said something about not having much of a family the first day she had met her. Then again, that red haired boy who had come in and spoken to her had looked a lot like her. Shrugging, the girl quickly got back to work.

HR

Ranma ran quickly to the district hospital, dragging an unresisting Shuichi behind her. When she got to the doors, she slowed down, letting the surprised boy catch his breath. "So is she still in here?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yes…" Shuichi said, smoothing the wrinkles out of his school uniform jacket. "but don't you think that you should change back into a male before we go and see her?"

Ranma looked down, blushing as she realized that she was in fact still a girl. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." She said, sheepishly. "I kinda forgot about that."

"Shuichi raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that you got this curse only a few weeks ago. I would think that you'd notice which form you're in, and wish to change back to your male form as soon as possible."

Ranma frowned, as Shuichi's words ran through her mind. It was weird, but ever since she'd run away from Genma, she hadn't really thought much about what form she was in. At first, it had been because she was too worried about getting away to care, and then it had been because her cursed form was the only way for her to make any money for food. Now, however, she seemed to be as comfortable in this form as she was in her male form, and that frightened her. Shaking it off, she just muttered "I'd better go get some hot water." Before running off to a nearby men's bathroom.

Shuichi chuckled as he saw her entering the bathroom. He didn't know what the effects of what Ranma called a 'Jusenkyo curse' were, but his older sibling definitely wasn't much of a girl even in cursed form. He, truthfully, didn't particularly care about Ranma's curse. Having him, or her, back would make his mother happy… and if worst came to worst, he hoped that the regaining of one child would lessen the impact of the loss of the other. He was supposed to meet up with Hiei tomorrow and see the third member of his new team for the infiltration of spirit world, and hopefully, within a few weeks, his mother would be healthy again and still have one of her children. He had seen how Tenchi's loss ten years ago had effected her, and had almost not wanted to use the forlorn hope for fear of causing the same thing to happen again. Now, though, he could do it with no guilt on his conscience..

"Hey Shuichi, you still here?" Ranma asked, as he snapped his fingers in front of his younger brother's face.

"Oh yes, I was just thinking." Shuichi said, jumping a little. "So do you want to go and see mother now?"

"Yeah…" Ranma said, looking apprehensive. "You really think she'll recognize me, I mean I didn't recognize her or you until you told me your names…"

"Don't worry." Shuichi said, with a small smile. "She's the one who told me who you were. Now let's go."

HR

As Ranma and Shuichi stepped off of the elevator to the floor of the hospital where Shiori was being treated, a doctor walked up to them, clipboard in hand. "Ah, Minamino-san. You're here to see your mother, right?"

"Yes, Himura-san. I was told that she was awake." Shuichi said, calmly.

"Yes, she's awake, and the first person she asked for was you but…" the doctor said, trailing off as he looked at Ranma. "I'm afraid only family is allowed to see her at this time."

"Don't worry doctor, he's family." Shuichi said, as he walked past the older man and towards his mother's room.

"I'm going to have to ask you to…" the doctor said, before Ranma quickly walked past him, following his brother. Suddenly, as he approached the door, it finally hit him. He was walking next to his younger brother, a person who he hadn't even known existed until last week, to see a mother who he'd thought was dead since he was six. It had all seemed somehow unreal until this point, as if he were in a dream. He stopped just a few feet from the door, and just stood there for a second.

"Are you all right Ranma?" Shuichi asked, as he noticed that the older boy had locked up for some reason.

"Yeah… Yeah, I think I'm just fine." Ranma said, suddenly grinning widely. Shuichi briefly wondered what to make of this reaction, before slowly opening the door to his mother's room and stepping in. The woman was laying back in the hospital bed, reading what looked like a paper back book. She put it aside as she heard Shuichi and Ranma enter the room, and smiled as she saw her son.

"Hello mother, how are you feeling?" Shuichi asked, calmly, entering and sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"I'm fine." She said, smiling at him lovingly. "I don't know why these doctors insist on keeping me trapped in this bed, I'm getting a little bit stir crazy."

Ranma stepped in, and looked Shiori over. She looked pale, and there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. He uncertainly walked towards her, not really sure how to approach the situation. Fortunately, she noticed him before he could open his mouth and shove a foot down.

"Tenchi?" She asked, looking Ranma over in astonishment. He had the same pigtail that her child had worn before he was taken by the awful man in the white training Gi, whom she had only seen very briefly as he leapt out of the park, and also had the same blue-grey eyes, something that Shuichi had missed out on in favor of her own green ones. He was most definitely a lot older, but some motherly instinct told her that this was, indeed, her child.

"Well, erm…" Ranma said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "I kinda call myself Ranma now, but yeah… I guess so." His statement seemed rather clunky and inelegant, however no one would ever accuse Ranma of having a way with words. Shiori reached out to hug him, and the pigtailed boy quickly obliged by moving close to the bed to allow her to wrap her arms around him.

As he felt the warmth of the embrace, vague memories floated through his mind of this same woman hugging him as a child, while he cried into her chest. He didn't remember why he had been crying, but this was something that he had really missed on his training trip with Genma, and he squeezed her back firmly. As he heard a sniffling sound, he broke away from the hug to see Shiori's eyes watering with tears. "Hey, mom, why're ya cryin?" He asked, starting to panic. He didn't really even realize that he'd called her mom, as he began to look around frantically for assistance. There were certain things that Ranma could NOT deal with, and crying women was one of them. As he looked towards Shuichi and mouthed the word "Help" the other boy just grinned wickedly.

"I think she is crying because she's happy, Ranma." He said, before standing up and leaving the room. Ranma just stood there, Shiori now being held in his arms, looking totally confused as she cried into his chest.

HR

Ranma walked out of Shiori's room, looking worried. "Shuichi, you out here?" he asked, noticing that his brother was leaning against the wall next to the door, looking off into the distance beyond the far wall of the hallway.

"Hmm?" Shuichi asked, distractedly.

"Mom just sorta fell asleep in my arms after she stopped cryin… is that normal?" Ranma asked, nervously.

Shuichi frowned. "Yes, that's pretty normal for how mother's been acting recently." He said, with a frown.

"Yeah, I knew she was real low on life energy and it made her kinda tired, but I thought sleepin for as long as she has'd cure that." Ranma said, looking confused.

Shuichi's eyes shot up to look at his brother intently. "What did you just say?"

Ranma stepped back, looking a little intimidated by Shuichi's penetrating stare. "I said she's runnin low on life energy, and that's why she's so tired…" he said, cautiously. "Is there something wrong?" he continued, as Shuichi seemed to go pale.

"No… there's nothing wrong." The younger boy said, quickly turning away from his mother's room and running down the hall.

"Hey Shuichi, where're ya goin!" Ranma yelled, running after. When he turned a corner that he had seen his brother run down, however, he couldn't see anything. "Damn, where'd he go?" He thought, before turning and heading for the elevator to go back to street level.

HR

On the street in front of the hospital, Ranma got a feeling that he was being watched. Looking around for the watcher, he could see no one in the area. Shrugging it off, he continued down the street towards the park. As he went, he thought about how things had gone at the hospital. Shuichi had been right, his mother had seemed to recognize him almost instantly, and had accepted him almost as quickly. Of course, she didn't really know him yet.

He felt rather apprehensive about how she'd react to the curse, but tried to push it to the side. Shuichi had seemed to take it in stride, but then again he was a pretty strange person. He didn't look much more skilled than an average high school student, yet he had managed to sneak up on and follow Ranma, not to mention his ability to jump from high tree branches to the ground with little or no trouble.

Reaching the edge of the park, Ranma's thoughts drifted away from Shuichi and to his mother. That strange lack of Chi that she was showing was pretty disturbing. He wasn't an expert on the subject, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it did seem unnatural that someone would have that low a reserve after sleeping for as long as she had. He resolved that he'd go through Genma's scrolls in the morning to see if they said anything about the problem. They were about as close to an expert opinion as he was going to get on the subject.

HR

"So, what I thought is true…" Shuichi, no, Kurama, muttered from his position on the hospital's roof. Although he had a pretty good sense for the energies of Demons, the subtlety of reading human life auras was something that he just couldn't master. It would require a lot of training and meditation that he simply couldn't have done as Youko, especially since it needed a certain human mindset, and Shuichi hadn't really had time for it with his schooling. "This truly was my fault." he continued, a few tears rolling down his face. "I will save you, mother… I'm sorry." He traced the form of his human brother walking on the street below him, smiling at him wistfully. "Take good care of her, Ranma." With that, he leapt off of the roof and into the night.

END.

Yusuke's voice: Wow, Pretty heavy thoughts there Kurama! Kurama's meeting with a strange guy in a black cloak? Kuwabara's in LOVE and Ranma's in a fight!

It's the battle of the egos! next time on Yu Yu Hakusho!

NOTES: Hmm… why does this Ranma seem to adapt to the curse so easily? Also, just 'cuz he doesn't mind being 'female' as much as he did in canon, he or she shall still dislike being 'girly' rather intensely. Also, there is a reason for it aside from author's cop out.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Request. Does anyone know where I can get a script for the Ranma Manga? By that I mean A copy of the text in the bubbles. I am asking because I feel I need to refresh my memory of the Manga, but don't wish to subject myself to the torture of reading it again visually. If you'll recall I am visually impaired and last time I read the Manga I ran through several bottles of headache pills to keep myself from going insane. Thanks, and sorry for the interruption. On with the show!

Chapter 6, Frustration and short people.

Ranma sighed as he carefully rolled the old scroll, tucking it back into the pocket in his pack. The only things the scrolls from Genma had contained were two sets of martial arts techniques, powerful looking ones at that, but they weren't likely to be incredibly useful in helping his mother. At any other time, he would have been incredibly happy to find them, but now… Growling in annoyance, the pigtailed martial artist stood, setting his pack in a corner of his tent before leaving it, hopping to the branch of a tree nearby and from there to the roof of a small apartment building. Roof hopping helped him think, and was very relaxing.

As he jumped from building to building, Ranma thought back on what had happened the night before. He had finally met his mother. True, it had only been for a short time, but the fact remained that he had met her. The only drawback to the situation was how very sick the older woman had seemed. Well, that and the fact that his younger brother had run off into the night after the visit. "What was with Shuichi anyways?" He muttered, as he came to a stop on the roof of Sarayashiki Jr. High school, about half an hour early for class. He had been up since six in the morning looking over the martial arts scrolls, and didn't see the point in trying to make up the half hour of sleep. Hopping down to the ground, he saw that Kuwabara was staggering into the schoolyard, a member of his gang holding up each arm. The taller boy seemed to have been beaten quite hard around the head and upper torso, a massive bruise visible surrounding his left eye.

"Kuwabara? What the heck happened to ya this time?" Ranma asked, running up to help the two boys lug the redhead towards the building.

"Oh, nothin happened Ranma, just got into a little fight is all!" The battered boy said, slurring several of his words together and then laughing nervously, until a twinge of pain stopped that cold.

"Right…" Ranma muttered, looking at Kuwabara Skeptically. After getting the taller boy into the school and settled on the ground, the pigtailed martial artist grabbed one of his friends, he believed his name was Okubo, and pulled him aside.

"Is… Is there something wrong?" Okubo asked, looking around nervously.

"Yeah, I'll say there's somethin wrong, Kuwabara's shown up, beaten to a pulp, twice in the past four days." Ranma said, sarcastically. "I know he ain't as good as me, or as Urameshi used to be, but this is gettin a little strange. What happened?"

"Well…" Okubo said, looking slightly guilty. "The first time he got beaten up 'cuz a whole bunch of people from other schools attacked us."

"And the second time?" Ranma asked, annoyed. Why wouldn't this kid give him a straight answer?

"The second time was 'cuz Kuwabara wasn't allowed to fight back, and those guys who jumped Yukimura-san a few days ago came back to beat him up." Seeing the question on Ranma's face, Okubo continued. "Those punks told their parents about you beating them up, and Mr. Ewamoto used it as an excuse to tell Kuwabara that he couldn't fight anyone for the next week, or he'd revoke all of our permission to take after school jobs. Without my job, my whole family's in trouble and Kuwabara knew it, so he refused to fight back when they jumped us today."

Ranma frowned, as he thought. "I'm guessing Ewamoto did this 'cuz Kuwabara's always the one startin fights, but why didn't he just correct him?"

"Kuwabara told us that it wasn't right to rat out someone else, especially if they were helping defend girls." Okubo said, by way of explanation.

"I get it, so Kuwabara got beat up 'cuz he wouldn't fight back, and those bastards who attacked Keiko took advantage of it? I'm gunna beat the crap outta them!" He growled, turning around and beginning to march off.

"No, stop!" Okubo yelled, grabbing Ranma by the arm.

"What is it?" Ranma asked, angrily, as he turned back to look at the younger boy.

"If you go and beat them up they'll just tell their parents again, and I'll have to give up my job. My mom's really sick, and our family needs my income to survive, please…"

Ranma frowned in frustration, but nodded, causing the younger boy to sigh in relief.

HR

Later that day, Ranma sat in his desk during Mr. Ewamoto's Science class, shooting glares at the teacher whenever he turned his back. He had been thinking about what Okubo had said earlier for the whole day, and had come to a rather unpleasant conclusion. It was his fault that Kuwabara and his gang were in this mess. Of course, what was he supposed to do, LET Keiko get mugged? As the bell for the end of class rang, he stood up and walked to the front. "Excuse me, Ewamoto Sensei, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked, in his most polite tone.

"Of course Ranma-San." Ewamoto said, somehow seeming condescending, as the room emptied of students. "Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" He continued, as the door closed behind a hurriedly leaving Keiko.

"Well, I kinda heard about what you're doin to Kuwabara and his friends." Ranma started, watching as Ewamoto's eyebrow lifted. "Look, It wasn't them who beat up those guys from that other school, it was me." He said, glaring. "They were tryin to get Keiko to pay 'em just for walking down a street, and they were gunna hurt her if she didn't. I had ta do something!"

"I see." The teacher said, crossing his hands under his chin on his desk, and leaning forward. "You do know that even if your intentions were "Good" you will still have to be punished for causing fights."

"Yeah, I know." Ranma growled, the teacher's tone was now well past patronizing and bordering on the edge of Ranma's self control.

"Well, you will have the same punishment as Mr. Kuwabara's group of delinquents, no fighting for the next week, and if I'm not mistaken you have the same physics test as Mr. Kuwabara on Friday. You must pass with above a 50, and not get into a fight with anyone, or permission for both you, and Mr. Okubo to work will be denied."

"Hey, why're you still holdin Kuwabara's friend to that, I thought since they didn't do anything they'd be let off the hook!" Ranma asked, angrily.

"Well, Mr. Kuwabara and his friends obviously concealed the true identity of the instigator of the fight from me, now didn't they? I'm afraid they will still have to be punished as well. Strange though, I didn't think you would be too upset at losing permission to take a part time job, After all you gave your slip to some girl… Ranko, I believe her name was?" Ewamoto said, with a false smile.

"How'd ya know about that?" Ranma asked, looking distinctly nervous.

"Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura called the school to confirm, of course." Ewamoto snorted. "That fool Takanaka may have felt sorry for the girl and let things go, but if you screw this up I'm sure I'll have to call the Yukimuras and inform them of the "Mistake" in Ranko's paperwork."

Ranma growled, and resisted the urge to smash the teacher into his own blackboard. He wasn't a martial artist, or even a fighter of any sort. It wouldn't be right to attack him. "I understand, sir." He said, in clipped tones, before turning and marching out of the room.

"Good luck on the test Ranma!" Ewamoto said, before laughing. His only response was a slammed classroom door.

HR

As Ranma came out of Mr. Ewamoto's classroom, he bumped into Keiko, who was standing there holding her bag. "Sorry 'bout that." He muttered, walking past the girl and down the hall. The brown haired girl looked after him, confused. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop at Mr. Ewamoto's door, she had only wanted to come back and get her calculator, however what she had heard was rather confusing. Ranma had apparently given Ranko his permission note. That, in itself, was strange. Of course, forging the note to read Ranko's name instead of Ranma's would be pretty easy, as they were mostly fill in the blank affairs, and the boy only had one different Kanji than the girl. Of course, the question was WHY Ranma would do that. For a second, the comment that Yusuke had made on the day when he had possessed Ranko's body came back to her. Could the girl and the boy really be the same person? They did ware the same, or very similar clothing, not to mention the same pigtail hairstyle. Keiko shook her head, in order to get the strange idea out of it. "That's impossible." She muttered, before entering the room to get her misplaced supplies.

HR

Ranma hopped off of the edge of one roof, his senses spread wide for any sine of his target. He was pretty sure that he could pass the stupid science test that Ewamoto had told him he had to, he had gotten passing, if only barely, grades in high school less than a year ago and was unsure how he had ended up in Sarayashiki, however he was damned if he was gunna get overconfident about it and ruin that Okubo kid's life. Being overconfident when his own life was the only one on the line was one thing, but with others depending on him, he'd make doubly sure that he would succeed.

With that said, he had decided to find someone to help him study. He had briefly considered Keiko, but she didn't know his male side too well and he couldn't risk her asking tricky questions about where his girl side went to school, especially since he didn't know of any schools in the area aside from Sarayashiki and the high school. Deciding that he would ask Shuichi for some help, he was now trying to find the other boy.

He had checked his home, and even quickly gone to the hospital where Shiori was sleeping for the moment, but he couldn't find his younger brother anywhere. Jumping past the park where his tent was, he stopped. Normally, his sense for the Chi of the world around him wasn't good enough to find a single person, even if there were no others around. He simply wasn't precise enough to isolate the signal from all of the ambient life force generated by plants and animals. Fortunately, for some reason, Shuichi had a strange aura that seemed to yell out it's presence no matter where it was.

Jumping from a roof to the trees, Ranma quickly made his way to an open clearing, however he managed to stop himself before he was seen by Shuichi, or the rather ominous looking cloaked figure who was standing next to him. Flattening himself against the side of a tree, the pigtailed martial artist peered into the clearing in confusion. 'Who's the short guy in the cloak?' He wondered, curiously.

"So, have you found a third member to join us yet?" Shuichi asked, looking at the cloaked figure intently.

"Not yet, why are you so anxious to get your hands on the forlorn hope, anyways? Are you as eager to get rid of all these humans as I am?" the cloaked figure asked, sounding amused.

"Why I want the forlorn hope is my own business, but you know that I need it before the next full moon, and the planning for the mission will take at least two weeks, during which we will need to know the capabilities of the third member of our team." Shuichi responded, annoyed.

Ranma's interest peaked at his brother's words, and he leaned forward in order to hear the conversation better. He cursed under his breath as a small twig from the branch he was standing on hit the grassy ground with a soft thumping noise.

The short guy stiffened, and suddenly turned to face Ranma. "Hey Kurama, looks like someone's shown up to play." He said, before unsheathing a blade from beneath his cloak, and leaping at Ranma.

The pigtailed Martial artist leapt clear of the tree he was standing in, only to see the cloaked man's sword split it down the middle, both sides falling with a loud crash. "Hey, what're ya tryin to do, kill me?" He asked, looking at the cloaked figure angrily.

"That IS the general idea." The figure said, semi-sarcastically, before jumping again. As Ranma was about to block him, He heard a loud crack and something green and thorny was in between him and the cloaked man.

"Kurama, why are you stopping me from killing this annoyance?" The cloaked figure asked, annoyed.

"Stop, Hiei. The person you're attacking is my brother." Shuichi said, as he curled up what appeared to be a long, green whip. Strangely, at his feet were a pile of rose petals.

"This third rate apparition is your brother?" the cloaked man, now identified as Hiei, asked in surprise.

"Third rate…" Ranma sputtered, angrily. He wasn't entirely sure what an apparition was, but he wasn't a third rate ANYTHING. "Who you callin third rate, Shorty?" He asked, annoyed.

Hiei growled, then smirked. "That would be you, third rate. Would you like to do something about it?" He asked, annoyed at the reference to his height.

Ranma nodded, and slipped into a defensive stance. From the sidelines, Kurama sighed. He knew that Hiei had just issued a challenge, and his brother had just accepted. He also knew that if he interfered now, Hiei would be likely to try and kill him, or at the very least refuse to work with him in the future. 'I'm sorry Ranma, but I must do this for mother.' He thought, before speaking up. "Hiei, please try to restrain yourself from killing my brother." He said, shortly.

The robed man just laughed, before throwing off the robe to reveal a short man, with spiky black hair with a stripe of white running through it. Perhaps the strangest thing about him was the third eye, a rather disconcerting shade of blue, that sat in the middle of his forehead.

'What the hell is that guy, some sorta demon?' Ranma thought, looking his new opponent over. He smiled slightly as he realized that he was breaking that stupid no fighting rule that Mr. Ewamoto had instated earlier that day, however he doubted that this guy was going to call his mother if he got beat up.

For a few minutes, the two combatants just stared at each other, before Hiei smirked. "So you want to try and react to my moves, do you?" He asked, before blurring almost into invisibility. Ranma's eyes widened in surprise as he threw himself out of the way of an incoming strike. His leg was caught by the blow, however seemingly in response to Kurama's request, Hiei was holding his Katana so that the flat of the blade impacted against Ranma's leg, rather than the very sharp cutting edge. The pigtailed martial artist made his opponent pay for the fact that he was holding back, however, as he slid his foot along the blade's length and slammed it into Hiei's hand. The short man yelled out in pain, before jumping away, the sword still barely held in the hand. He smirked, before switching to his left hand. "I suppose that'll teach me for letting Kurama's words make me go easy on you." He said, before jumping forward again.

Two minutes later, Ranma was standing, his arms covered in small cuts, glaring at Hiei. He had been forced to use his Chi to boost his movement almost a minute ago, something he had very rarely done since he'd learned how to do it when he was fourteen. This Hiei guy was about twice as fast as he was, and a little stronger. Of course, he seemed to be a lot less adaptable, and Ranma had used that to score a few powerful blows, not the least of which was the one that temporarily disabled Hiei's right hand. Unfortunately, the shorter man had already, somehow, healed that wound and was using his sword in the dominant hand once again. As he leapt into the fight again, Ranma thought that this would be his last chance to attack. While he had done minor damage to Hiei, the other had done pretty substantial damage to him, such as innumerable tiny nicks and scratches all over his arms and torso, and the pain was getting to him.

Hiei watched in amusement as his opponent suddenly broke and ran. He knew that this apparition, apparently the brother to the great Youko Kurama, wasn't very powerful, but now he was even running. Dashing forward, the diminutive, although anyone who said that to his face would die a horrible death, demon prepared for the blow that would knock out his opponent, a sharp blow to the back of his head with the flat of his sword. As he did so, his opponent suddenly changed course, headed right for a tree. Hiei's eyes widened as Ranma jumped, planting his feet on the bark of the tree and somersaulting over his head, only to bring the heal of his right foot down in a vicious blow that caught Hiei unaware, sending him headfirst into the wood.

Kurama watched in astonishment as his brother staggered away from the fallen form of Hiei, his fist upraised. He slowly walked over to his current partner in crime and poked him with a foot. All he got in return was a groan. Yes, his human elder brother had just knocked a Demon silly with the aid of a tree. Of course, the tree was now nothing more than splinters from Hiei's impact point upwards, but still... "How did you do that?" he asked, looking at Ranma in astonishment.

"Aw, it wasn't all that hard." Ranma lied, not willing to admit that he'd gotten overwhelmingly lucky.

"Not really that…" Kurama said, before shaking his head. "Well, I should probably get Hiei to a safe place to sleep."

Ranma nodded. "Ya should probably get him to a hospital, I didn't really mean to kick him that hard." The pigtailed boy grinned sheepishly as he remembered how hard he had kicked Hiei. He was just thankful that the other's skull had not been fractured, as his had been at one point when he did something similar to a tree from one of Genma's kicks.

"I'm sure Hiei will be fine." Kurama laughed, picking the shorter man up and carrying him over his shoulder. Ranma was about to ask him a few questions, when he jumped off into the trees. He would have followed him, but he was just too tired to bother.

HR

Hiei groaned as he cracked his eyes open, looking around. He was in a wooded clearing, however this one seemed a lot more overgrown and wild looking than the one in the park. "What… what happened?" He wondered, rubbing a soar spot on the top of his head.

"I believe that my brother knocked you out." Kurama said, amused.

Hiei smiled. He had to admit that that had been a good fight, even if he had been holding a significant amount of his power back. "For a lower class apparition, that brother of yours is pretty good." He admitted, grudgingly.

"That brother is from my human family, Hiei. He's a human." Kurama said, his amusement increasing as Hiei's eyes widened.

"Fox, if this is a joke…" Hiei threatened, reaching over his shoulder to grasp his sword. But then again, his opponent hadn't used any obvious Reiki based techniques in their fight, aside from his strength and speed enhancement, and he looked completely human, not even having any of the minor tells that most demons did. It would also explain how he'd never heard of Kurama having any siblings before this point. But that would mean… He shuddered. He was beaten by a human, who wasn't even using any Reiki. The short demon's shout of outrage could be heard all the way back in the city from the forest clearing where Kurama had carried him.

END.

NOTES.

How did Ranma win against Hiei? Short answer. He was holding back. Like so many of Ranma's enemies, he underestimated him and paid for it. Ranma was also, as mentioned in the text, only using his own physical power while fighting Yusuke. In a battle using his Chi, Ranma could beat Yusuke a bit more easily at the moment, however he considers it overkill for a friendly match, or even the anger induced grope retaliation match. Also, Hiei reacted so badly because, Unlike Yusuke, Ranma's not a spirit detective, and therefore he's just another annoying human.

I'm almost sure that I am ruining Hiei's character. For that I'm sorry, I can't seem to write lines for short dark and creepy yet. I hope I get better.

Ah, FINALLY an update from me! But why does it have to be on my least popular story? I hope the few readers who read this fic will like this offering, and I'll try my very best to ensure that I update more quickly next time! I'm sorry, I HATE authors like me… I just may need a shrink for that… :D

Anyways, Read, enjoy, and Review if you would. Weebee signing out!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6, plans, recovery, questioning… oh yeah, and a mush brained swordsman.

Ranma winced as he carefully removed the blood covered arm of his silk shirt, the multiple slashes that the short guy with the sword had cut in it helping him in this regard. 'Damn. and it was my favorite shirt.' He thought, scowling down at the shallow, yet still serious if not tended, cuts that had produced the blood. Unfortunately, the pigtailed martial artist didn't have any medical supplies, the last of those in his pack having been used up on treeting Kuwabara's injuries earlier.

Pondering this, the pigtailed martial artist thought of something. He had been considering visiting his mother tonight anyways, in hopes that she would wake up, so he figured he would actually get his wounds looked at at a hospital for once.

Slipping on a second Chinese shirt, this one blue rather than the red one, both of which he'd picked up with some of the last of his money before leaving china, the young man quickly left the tent, heading for the hospital.

HR

In a forest clearing, a rather angry black haired demon stomped around, slashing anything that got in his way with his blade. Kurama, although not a coward, was smart enough to know when he should get the heck out of the line of fire, and as a result wasn't one of the things that Hiei's blade turned into confetti.

"I can't believe that… that human defeated me!" the demon growled, swinging his blade again and lopping a tree off at it's base. Fortunately, this stress relief was calming him down, and he was beginning to return to rational thought. He HAD been holding back in the fight with Kurama's human brother, and the boy hadn't won with brute strength but a cleverly crafted plan that Hiei wouldn't fall for again. Also, as he thought of it, the human had been very good for his kind, who Hiei mostly couldn't stand due to their weakness. Sighing, the demon placed his sword against a tree and slumped to the ground.

'Damn it, I think I almost respect the third rate kid.' He thought, shaking his head. Kurama was getting soft, he knew that. Perhaps being near him had rubbed that off on Hiei, however he had to admit that he was impressed by the quick thinking and obvious fighting skill of Kurama's brother. After a second of those thoughts running around in his head, Hiei's eyes widened. He had just gotten an idea that could help his and Kurama's little 'project' quite a bit. And if the idea fell through, at least he'd get rid of the annoying little human.

HR

At the hospital, Ranma slipped through one of the windows on his mother's floor. True, he had been let in before, however that had been when he was with Shuichi and he wasn't sure if they'd let him through while alone. Slipping down the hall, the pigtailed martial artist managed to avoid all of the nurses walking past, and entered his mother's room.

As he caught sight of the older woman, Ranma couldn't help but marvel. It had happened both times he had seen her before. After the betrayal of finding out that Genma had been lying to him for the better part of his life, seeing a member of his true family, especially one of his parents, was a profound experience. Unfortunately, looking past his initial reaction, the sleeping woman's face didn't look very good. Her cheeks were hollow, her forehead slick with sweat. Walking over to the bed, he carefully rubbed a hand over her face, getting rid of the layer of sweat and smoothing her hair back over the top of her head.

Tearing his eyes away from the sleeping form of his mother, Ranma walked to a cupboard above a sink on the other side of the room. Opening it, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw a bunch of medical supplies, including gauze and medical tape. Retrieving some of the materials and a pair of scissors, he set about cleaning and binding his wounds.

HR

Shiori Minamino stirred as she felt something moving across her forehead. She'd been having the most wonderful dream. It was that she, Shuichi and her other son Tenchi were all living in her home together as a family. Before that, she'd had another, in which her eldest child had actually come to visit her in hospital with Shuichi. Was it a result of the disease that she suffered from that she had such dreams, was she going to start dreaming about her long dead husband walking through the doors next? Oh well, at least they were pleasant. As she heard the sound of a set of doors on the other side of the room opening, Shiori let her eyes open to see a young man with a pigtail pulling supplies out of the cupboard the nurses always used to get her medication. It was odd, but he looked a lot like the older Tenchi that she'd seen in her dream.

As the boy walked to a chair next to the sink and began dressing what looked like a group of gashes along his arm, she winced. Luckily, the strange boy didn't notice that she was awake, and she really couldn't blame him for sneaking into her room to get supplies with injuries that bad… although she really wished that he'd have just asked the doctors to help him. The next thing that happened thoroughly convinced Shiori that she was dreaming, as the boy used a bit of water from the sink to clean some dirt out of one of his wounds, and promptly changed into a girl. She couldn't quite help the soft gasp that escaped her lips, as the girl turned to face her with a surprised look on her face.

"M… mom." The girl stuttered, as she seemed to just realize that Shiori was awake.

Shiori was surprised. This dream really was strange. "Tenchi?" She asked, tentatively. She had heard somewhere that dreams indicated things that you wanted in your subconscious. She supposed she'd always wanted a daughter or something.

"Erm well, like I said before I'm called Ranma now… and believe it or not, I can explain this." The girl said, gesturing at herself nervously.

"Ranma? why do you call yourself that?" Shiori asked, curiously. At least these dreams were entertaining.

"Well…" Ranma said, wondering why her mother was asking her about her name rather than the obvious gender change she'd just undergone. "It's what pop… erm, what Genma called me. He'd had a son with the same name by his wife, but both of 'em died when the kid was born." The redhead glowered as she thought of what Genma had done. "Guess the ol' bastard thought one kid was as good as another." She muttered, darkly, as she continued to bandage her injuries. Fortunately, she had remembered to wrap the bandages a little more loosely than she normally would, so that they'd accommodate the change back to male form.

As Shiori listened to Ranma's story, she began to question her belief that this was a dream. The person in front of her had told a story that she would never have thought of, and the thought of naming a child 'Wild Horse' had honestly never crossed her mind. Of course, the one thing preventing that idea was the first thing she'd seen when she'd 'woken up.' That being the boy turning into a girl. "So… why did you just…. Change?" She asked, her curiosity over that subject suddenly returned.

Ranma looked down at herself and grimaced. "It's a curse." She said, uneasily. "I got it in China. It's reversible with warm water, but I change every time I get hit with cold water again." Saying this, she used the hot water tap to change back into a male, grinning as the bandages that had been just barely tight enough on his female form didn't rip themselves to pieces.

"So why didn't you tell me about this curse last time you were here?" Shiori asked, finally, after a few seconds of gaping.

Ranma looked down. "I… I was afraid to." He said, softly.

"Afraid?" Shiori asked, trying to lean up in her bed a bit but quickly leaning back as her head began to swim. You weren't supposed to feel sick in dreams, were you?

"I… Genma always put me down by callin me a weak little girl." He noticed Shiori's disapproving frown and continued hurriedly. "I've thrown most of Genma's theories on life out the window, including that one mostly, but changin sex with water ain't exactly normal either and I… I didn't know what you'd think of it. I'd understand if ya didn't wanna see me again 'cause of it." As he said the last, he looked down at the ground, as if he was trying to hide his expression.

"Ten… Ranma… Having a child who's a little different in one way or another is no reason for a parent to ask them to go away. I love Shuichi, and I love you." Shiori said, firmly. Then, her expression changed and she gained a small grin. "Besides, my daughter is so pretty, how could I ever be ashamed of her?"

"Hey!" Ranma said, a mixture of immense happiness and annoyance present on his face as he laughed. "You… you really don't care?"

"Of course not. In fact, could you change again and come over here so I can get a better look at your other form?" Shiori asked, with a slight smile.

Ranma nodded, holding his hand under the water of the sink and shifting to his cursed form again before walking closer to the head of her mother's bed and standing for inspection.

"Hmm… definitely take after your father in this form. You look a lot like his mother." Shiori said, looking over Ranma's cursed form intently as she had the normal one previously. She was just thankful that she'd started off this strange encounter thinking it was a dream. With how Ranma had reacted to his curse being discovered by her, she was pretty sure a panicked reaction wouldn't have helped the situation.

"So…" Ranma said, beginning to fidget nervously.

"You're definitely a child to be proud of… in both of your forms." Shiori said, but then she started to frown. "But I want to know where you got all of those cuts on your arms, and it had better be a good explanation." Even in her sickened state, the look that had worked to put Shuichi into line as a child seemed to be working quite well, as Ranma fidgeted even more nervously, batting at her pigtail.

"Well, I kinda got 'em in a fight." She said, sheepishly. "It was a really good one too. I wish the other guy had stuck around long enough so we coulda arranged for sparrin practice… well, I mean I wish Shuichi hadn't carried him off before we could arrange a spar, anyways." She said, wistfully.

"A sparring match?" Shiori asked, uncomprehendingly.

"Y'know, where two martial artists fight each other for practice. He was really good, and ever since Yusuke…" Ranma trailed off, looking down. Suddenly, the door to the room, that Ranma had shut and locked when he'd entered, began to click as someone unlocked it. "Erm, I gotta go mom, I kinda snuck in here." Ranma explained, quickly splashing her face with hot water. "I'll be back next time Shuichi comes ta visit you so I can get past the doctors outside." Saying this, he grinned, using the room's open window to exit the building. Shiori was about to start panicking, when she saw Ranma's hand appear in the window after he flipped out, giving her the thumbs up sign.

Sighing, she lay back on her bed. That had been one of the strangest things she'd ever experienced. Also, Shuichi was going to need to do some explaining as to why he hung around with sword wielding martial artists. The thought that Tenchi, or rather Ranma, was one of those martial artists, sword wielding or otherwise, was a whole different problem. As a doctor entered her room, she allowed her eyes to drift closed and returned to sleep.

HR

Later that night, in a dark portion of the forest, a shadowed figure stood, a larger figure standing in front of him. "Gouki, do you understand?" He asked, in a sharp voice.

"Yeah, I get it." The bigger figure, named Gouki, muttered as he glared at his companion. "But I don't get it. Why do I gotta pound a little human just to prove that I'm qualified for this job? It's not like it'll be hard or anything."

"Don't question me." The shadowed figure snapped, annoyed. "Remember, you have to track him down first, and that could be difficult. Also, you AREN'T allowed to kill him, just bring him to me."

Alright, I got it!" Gouki said, before walking off.

"Care to tell me what you are doing Hiei?" Kurama asked, descending from a tree as the large soul eater demon disappeared into the forest.

"Not particularly, fox." Hiei responded, lazily.

"Hiei…" Kurama said, warningly.

"Your little human brother will be fine, fox.. just consider this a little test." Hiei said, before flipping off into the trees.

Kurama growled, however he had to trust that Hiei knew what he was doing. The fact was that he needed him to help save his mother. Exuding annoyance, the human fox demon jumped into the trees and away from the clearing.

HR

Ranma hopped from roof to roof on his way to school. It'd been three days since his first real, conversational, meeting with his mother, however he hadn't been able to find Shuichi so that he could go back without trying to sneak in. Of course, today was the day of the big science test, and he sort of wished that he could have found Shuichi anyways, if only to get him to help him study.

As he jumped across one street, the pigtailed martial artist heard the sound of flesh meeting flesh, and quickly stopped, walking to the edge and looking down. Sure enough, on the street there were three people in black school uniforms, surrounding a single blue uniformed figure whose reddish orange hair revealed that it was Kuwabara.

'What the hell?' He muttered, as yet another blow was landed on the unresisting boy. Just as he was about to jump down and end the fight, Ranma remembered that he was prohibited from fighting just like Kuwabara was, however he couldn't just let the other boy get the crap beaten out of him, especially on the one day when he HAD to get to school on time and in good shape.

Growling, Ranma went to one side of the building where there was an alleyway, jumping down… right into the middle of a large puddle of water from a rain shower the night before which promptly soaked his, now her, lower legs. The pigtailed redhead growled in annoyance, as her only plan for helping Kuwabara out, that of using intimidation to scare the other guys off, promptly went up in smoke. She was about as scary as a teddy bear. It was at that point that she realized that her cursed form DID have one advantage. She wasn't known as a student of Sarayashiki. Stepping out of the alley, she began to crack her knuckles.

"Hey you guys!" Ranma yelled, as she stepped onto the street.

The punks immediately diverted their attention from the beaten up Kuwabara to the newcomer on the scene. "Oh look guys, it's a cute little girl." The leader said, chuckling.

"You wanna stop beatin on someone who can't hit back?" Ranma asked, ignoring the cute little girl comment.

"Hey guys, she wants us to stop picking on this guy here. Isn't that sweet?" the gang leader asked, chuckling. His friends joined him, until they saw Ranma crack her knuckles again, falling into an offensive stance. "Hey boys, I think she's serious!" The leader said, before his laughter got even louder.

"Ya know, if he was allowed to fight back, Kuwabara'd beat the tar outta you guys. Since he can't… I guess I will." Ranma said, as she sped forward. The gang leader was broken out of the middle of his laughter as a hard upward strike landed in the middle of his stomach, actually lifting him a foot or so into the air as he flew backwards.

"Ghh… what the?" The leader asked, as he caught his breath. "Get the bitch!" he hollered, as one of his two friends helped him to his feet. It was at this point that Ranma burst into action, laying the guy who charged at her out with a swift roundhouse kick. Charging, she laid the gang leader's assistant out with a most un-martial artist like, but very scary looking haymaker to the jaw, and turned to him with a grin.

"Now, you gunna go away?" She asked, making as if to hit him.

"Okay, Okay… I'm leavin!" the guy said, holding warding signs to keep the girl back.

"And I'm sure you won't go telling your parents like last time, unless you want everyone to know that a 'cute little girl' just kicked your whole gang's asses." Ranma said, with a smirk.

The gang leader growled, but quickly got the help of his one still conscious member to drag the third off over both of their shoulders.

Looking at a clock in a store window, the pigtailed redhead cursed. It was almost time for school. With this in mind, she quickly began to run for Sarayashiki. If she had stayed around, she would have noticed a girl in a uniform from her school and a very… odd… aura show up and look around in astonishment while Kuwabara just stood in the middle of the street, gaping.

As Yusuke, who had taken possession of the girl's body to try and help Kuwabara, walked up to the red haired boy, he snapped his fingers in front of his eyes only to get a 'She's so… beautiful…' in response.

END.

Notes: Why'd I make Ranma and Shiori's meeting start with her thinking it was a dream like that? Simple answer… Because most people react a lot differently to the curse, usually involving a bit of screaming and yelling, and considering Shiori's current fragile physical state, I felt that wasn't advisable for the poor woman. So there. :D

Also, is anyone noticing that she's SERIOUSLY different from Nodoka? Don't worry Kurama fans, he'll show up more prominently soon!

Also, strange tendency in Yusuke… so far that's two girls he's possessed… I think I'm sensing a pattern here.

PS: I Like Kuwabara, I really do… but his early series penitent for falling for anything female simply must be poked fun at, or I wouldn't be a responsible fanfic author!

ANYWAYS, see ya all soon. Please R&R!


	7. Chapter 7

Hi again folks. I kinda wanted to have a new chapter of Officer Sato out for James Axelrad's birthday, which an anonymous E-mail just HAPPENED to inform me was sometime this week, but my muse will not be denied. Now James or Lisa, I know ONE of you sent it, so own up:D 

At any rate, enjoy the fic!

Chapter 7. Keiko, a test and a demonic attack.

Ranma ran through the front gates of Sarayashiki Jr. high school, her red pigtail fluttering in the wind of her passage. She wasn't late yet, but by the time she got some hot water and got to class it would be a close thing.

In the wake of the speeding redhead, Keiko Yukimura blinked rapidly a few times. 'That was Ranko, but what's she doing here?' She thought, as she chased the blur into the school. Unfortunately, by the time she reached where she thought the blur had ended up she was standing in front of the boys washroom and the only one around had been Ranma, who had waved at her as he ran past and called out "Hey Keiko, aren't ya going to be late for class?" at which point she'd realized the time and had to make a mad dash of her own after the pigtailed martial artist.

HR.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, Yusuke was having his own problems. Kuwabara wasn't exactly cooperating with him in his attempts to get him to class on time. The orange haired boy kept drifting off into dreams about some girl while walking, and had bumped into three lockers already. The only good part about this was that while his friend was in his daydreaming state, Kuwabara was more receptive to the spirit world and Yusuke could usually get him moving again.

"This must be some girl." The Urameshi boy muttered, as he passed his hand through the back of Kuwabara's head again, the general effect being similar to a slap upside the head and causing him to snap back to reality.

"Actually," Botan, who had just floated down beside him said, scaring Yusuke and causing him to jump, "The girl he saw was Ranma in his other form." She couldn't help but snicker at both Yusuke's startled jump and the thought of Kuwabara fantasizing about Ranma. 'That'll teach him for saying I'm not scary.' She giggled to herself, as Yusuke turned a little green.

"Ouch, poor guy." Yusuke whistled, as Kuwabara turned into the door of his first class of the day, Science class with Mr. Ewamoto.

Yusuke spent most of the class trying to get Kuwabara to pay attention, but fortunately for him the other boy's periods of zoning out also allowed his friend, or actually Botan, to whisper answers into his ear for the test.

HR.

"How did that idiot Kuwabara manage this?!" Mr. Iwamoto growled, looking over the test he had in front of him. He was hoping that, at best, the delinquent boy had managed to just barely pull off a 50, in which case he could tweak the mark to make him fail. This though, this was IMPOSSIBLE! If he hadn't been watching Kuwabara all class to make sure he wasn't cheating, he'd have sworn that the boy had an answer sheet under his chair. "70 percent…" he muttered, looking over the sheet again. "70 percent."

"Something wrong, Kazuo?" Mr. Takanaka asked, looking over Mr. Ewamoto's shoulder to examine Kuwabara's test.

"Nothing." Ewamoto muttered, cursing at the fact that now that Takanaka had seen it, he couldn't alter the test score or answers. Oh well, that Ranma boy was next and he was absolutely SURE that he would fail miserably. He was more of a delinquent than Urameshi.

In the middle of Physical education, Ranma sneezed and almost flubbed a jump on the high bar. Changing his angle quickly, he grabbed the bar and flipped around it to land gracefully on the mat on the other side.

"While that was quite impressive, it wasn't what you were supposed to do, Mr. Ranma. Try it again." The gym teacher said, slightly amazed.

HR.

On the other side of the gym, in the girls class, Keiko was observing Ranma intently. Well, to be fair, half the girls were doing that, but Keiko was doing it for a different reason. She had started thinking of it as only a joke, a way to pass the time until she got to the vaulting horse, but the thoughts kept running around in her head. When Yusuke had come back to her, in Ranko's body, he had told her that Ranko and Ranma were the same person. At the time, she'd laughed it off as him trying to dodge an accusation of perversion and hadn't thought of it since, however her overheard conversation between Ranma and Mr. Ewamoto had started the thought going through her head again, and there had been some more evidence since then.

Two days ago, Ranma had come into class with his arms pretty well wrapped in bandages. Granted, he had lost most of them over the time since, and she was kind of confused at how someone could heal that fast, but the strange part was that Ranko had shown up at work that night with just as many bandages on her arms. When Keiko had asked where she'd gotten injured, she had answered that it was in a sparring match, and shrugged it off. Another strange thing was that she had seemed to lose her bandages at the same rate as Ranma did. Add to that this morning's incident with Ranko showing up at school only to be replaced with Ranma a few minutes later, and despite how unbelievable it was, she had to consider the possibility that they were the same person. 'I'll talk to Ranko about it at work tonight.' She resolved, before a brusque voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Yukimura, you're up! Stop staring at the boys and get over here!" The girls' gym teacher bellowed, causing the blushing brunette to quickly jump to her feet and proceed to the vaulting horse.

HR.

Ranma leaned back in his seat, cracking his back and stretching languidly. His completed test paper lay on the table before him, and he was feeling confident that he had done most, if not all, of it correctly. A great deal of the questions dealt with biology, one of the few classes that Genma had made him study for during the training trip. 'If you know how the human body works, it makes it easier to make it stop.' The old fart had said, and this was one of those occasions, very rare in number, where he had given good advice.

"Here you go, sir." Ranma said, setting the paper on the teacher's desk and walking out of class for lunch.

On his way down to the lunch room, Ranma saw Kuwabara walking the other way, holding what looked like a home made bento. Falling in next to him, he noticed that the taller boy seemed slightly out of it. "Hey Kuwabara, you Okay?" He asked, cautiously.

"I'm fine…" Kuwabara mumbled, his eyes slightly distant and misty.

"Oookay." Ranma said, drawling the words out slowly. He had thought of an idea this morning and wanted to run it by Kuwabara, but the other boy seemed just a bit out of it. Shrugging, he decided to try it anyways. "Hey Kuwabara, I was wonderin. There ain't any good sparring partners around the school, since…" He shrugged off what he was going to say and continued on. "Anyways, I was wondering if ya wanted to spar with me after school some time?"

"Huh, what?" Kuwabara said, seeming to snap out of a daze. Unknown to Ranma, Yusuke had just slapped his friend in the back of the head again. "What was that?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to spar after school some times." Ranma clarified, speaking slowly. After a second, his eyes gained a teasing spark. "After all, ya ain't too good at dodging attacks, and I need a punching bag."

"Hey! I ain't a punching bag!" Kuwabara yelled, indignantly.

"Then prove it." Ranma said, smirking.

"Fine." Kuwabara said, but then realized something. "I'll beat you tomorrow, when I'm allowed to fight again. That sound good to you?"

Ranma nodded. "All but the beatin me part, sure." He said, and then walked off grinning. If he couldn't find that guy with the sword again, at least Kuwabara would be fun to fight with.

Floating in mid-air behind Kuwabara, Botan looked at Yusuke quizzically. "Why did you snap him out of his daydreams for that?"

"Simple." Yusuke answered, reclining in relaxation. "When I come back to life, he should be a lot more fun to beat up if Ranma trains him up a bit."

Botan sighed in exasperation. "I should have known."

HR.

Ranma, Kuwabara and his gang stood in Mr. Ewamoto's office, waiting for the teacher to speak from behind his desk. "Well, I don't know how you did it, but you all passed." Ewamoto ground out, laying five test papers out on the table in front of him.

"So our jobs are safe?" Okubo asked, tentatively.

"Yes," Ewamoto said, sighing. "But I will be watching you! Step out of line in school once more, and I'll punish you to the fullest extent, is that understood?" He said, smiling sinisterly.

"Yes sir." All five boys responded, though Ranma's response was slightly mocking and Kuwabara's was angry.

"Good, now get out of here." Ewamoto turned his chair away from the students as he said this, clearly telling them that he was done with them.

"Thanks a lot Kuwabara, you really saved me." Okubo said, as the group exited the teacher's office.

"Aw, it's no problem." Kuwabara laughed, nervously, as he scratched the back of his neck. "But I almost didn't make it today."

"Huh, what happened?" One of Kuwabara's other friends asked, curiously.

"Well," Kuwabara started, before telling the story of Ranma's rescue of him this morning, complete with a few embellishments of his own. Unnoticed to the rambling redhead, one of his companions was turning a little green.

"I, erm, gotta go." Ranma said, quickly, in the middle of Kuwabara's story. Luckily, he had made it to the bathroom before he was sick. A guy liked his girl form, and what was worse, it was Kuwabara. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with Kuwabara, but the way he talked about the "Pigtailed goddess" who saved him this morning. Gah… Yeah, Ranma was definitely not going to hold back during his first spar with Kuwabara, not one bit.

HR.

Later that day, the students' procession out of Sarayashiki Jr. High was stopped when the sound of shattering stone reverberated through the air. As everyone looked towards the source of the sound, they were surprised to see that there was a large hole in the wall surrounding the school, and a tall and muscular man walking through it.

"Ranma Minamino!" The man bellowed, looking around the area. "Where are you?!"

At that moment, two people sighed. One was up in a tree, and was wondering how he had ever been talked into having this idiot on a covert theft team and the other was in the middle of the line of students, and quickly pushed his way past a bunch of classmates to get to the guy who'd just smashed the hole in the wall.

"I'm Ranma, what'cha want?" The pigtailed martial artist stated, surveying his new opponent. The guy was tall, taller than Kuwabara by a fair margin, and very muscular. He also looked about as dumb as a brick, though, so Ranma wasn't particularly worried.

"The name's Gouki. I'm here to take ya to meet a partner of mine. You'd better come along like a nice little human." The man said, cracking his knuckles.

'Human?' Ranma thought, before falling into a stance. "I don't like bein threatened. How 'bout ya try and make me come with ya?" He asked, as he motioned for the rest of the students to back away. Having seen a few brawls between Yusuke and Kuwabara, or other combatants over the years, most of the students obliged Ranma's request.

Gouki, the soul eater demon, grinned. He had been looking for this kid for three days. As Hiei had said, it had been hard to find him and he was more than ready to work off some steam. With a roar of challenge, he charged at his human opponent… and found him not there.

"C'mon, you can do better than that, can't you?" Ranma asked, leaning casually against the wall near the hole Gouki had created. The larger man growled, charging again, and Ranma decided to counter with a blow of his own while dodging this time. Unfortunately, he quickly found out that punching Gouki was a bad idea, as his arm started throbbing from the shock of his hand slamming into his opponent's stone-like skin. "What the he…" he was cut off as the large man used his distraction to catch him with a blow that sent him flying half way across the school yard and into a trench on the ground of his own making.

"Why is it that half the guys around here are ridiculously strong?" Ranma muttered, as he hauled himself to his feet. Taking stock of his situation, he found that he had no broken bones, but many small bruises and a bump on the back of his head. Rubbing at the bump, he grinned. "That hurt a little." He said, as he rejoined the battle.

Within a few minutes, Ranma was hurting more than a little. That first punch his opponent had landed had taken quite a lot out of him, and he was only barely dodging most of the time. He had attempted to take a few shots since then, but even aiming for usually vital spots, including the desperation move that Genma had called the 'Squirrel Maneuver,' seemed to have no effect. Desperately, the pigtailed martial artist tried to think of a technique that could hurt the thick skinned monster before him. If he had a few handy trees to bounce off of he could try a momentum assisted kick, but he didn't, and it was entirely possible that even if he did the move would probably just break his leg. Within a few seconds, his frantically rummaging mind came upon a technique that could, at least, buy him some time. Admittedly, he had only read the scroll teaching the move once, but even if it only worked for a few seconds it could work.

While dodging, Ranma started to talk. "That's it, time to end this!" He yelled, catching Gouki's attention. "Saotome school of anything goes final attack!" He continued, and as Gouki was hardening his defenses in expectation, the young man used the opportunity to take up what looked like a modified preying mantis stance and vanish from sight.

"What the hell?" Gouki demanded, looking around for his opponent. Ranma, for his part, was desperately trying to focus his Chi to keep up the technique. He wasn't technically far enough advanced in manipulating his aura to do this, and it took all of his concentration to keep from flickering back into sight, however while he was invisible, Gouki couldn't attack him, and he could possibly recover some of his lost strength.

Gouki snorted. "Running away, should have expected as much from a human."

In the trees, the figure who was watching couldn't help but be impressed. Admittedly, his Jagaan eye could see Ranma, holding position a little distance from his opponent, but without that very special ability, which he was sure no one in spirit world security had, the boy was virtually undetectable unless you bumped into him.

On the battlefield, Gouki was getting annoyed. "Come out, now!" He bellowed, looking around for where Ranma could possibly be hiding. Most of the students who had been watching the fight had cleared out when Ranma had almost hit them on one of his headlong flights, and the yard looked almost completely empty. Seeing that there was one girl just exiting the building, the demon grinned and ran to her, grabbing her by the arm and holding her up.

"Come out, or this one dies!" He snarled, holding a fist above the girl's head.

The girl, a seventh grader, did a perfectly natural thing in such a situation and started to whimper softly.

Whether Ranma would have given in to Gouki's threat or not was actually a moot issue. The Umisen ken depended on one suppressing their Chi, and the burst of angry chi that the pigtailed boy let off at the demon's actions pretty well dispersed it. Instantly, Gouki dropped the girl, and showing more speed than he had all fight in an attempt to keep Ranma from disappearing again, he closed and grabbed the boy by the throat.

"To hell with Hiei's orders." He snarled, as he began squeezing Ranma's neck, intent on choking him to death.

It was at that moment that the shadow hidden in the trees chose to act, dropping to the ground and running towards the victorious demon. Unsheathing his sword, Hiei removed Gouki's head in one clean stroke. "I thought I distinctly told you not to kill him. You don't listen very well, do you?" He said, sheathing the blade as the large and muscular demon toppled to the ground.

Ranma, who had been dropped to the ground when Gouki died, looked up at the voice. "Wha…" he muttered, seeing the guy he'd slammed into a tree three days earlier.

"You owe me, and I have a job I need done. Come to the park tonight." Hiei said, shortly, before bounding off into the city. Ranma just gawked, rubbing at the marks on his neck where Gouki's hands had wrapped it, before walking off as well.

END.

So, how was it, Huh? Huh? Tell me tell me tell me!

Now that I got THAT out of my system, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As for why Gouki called Ranma "Ranma Minamino," he got the name from Hiei, who only knows that Kurama's human last name is Minamino, and his brother's name is Ranma, ergo Ranma Minamino.

Oh, and sorry for the Kuno Kuwa reference. I like Kuwabara, but he's SO easy to make fun of!

C ya soon. I'll try and get the next OS chapter out soon, but maybe this is good enough a present for ya, James."


	8. Chapter 8

Yeah, another chapter in... what, 6 months? Sorry, guys. No excuses available.

Chapter 8, Meetings.

Ranma sat on Sarayashiki Jr. High school's roof, rubbing at his extremely sore neck and looking over the battlefield that he and that…. Whatever the hell it was, had left. The giant man had seemed to dissolve only a few minutes after Hiei cut his head off, which lead the pigtailed martial artist to a definite conclusion that he wasn't a normal person. Granted, his ugliness and sudden transformation had made that reasonably clear to begin with, but he'd seen stranger things done by normal people.

Frowning, he withdrew his hand from his bruised neck. If enemies as powerful as that one were to be attacking him all the time, finding new and better ways to train was more important than ever… but he also needed to try and find a way to help with his mother's Chi loss problem. Growling as he heard the school bell chime 4:30, the confused martial artist hopped off of the roof. Hiei had asked him to meet him later, and his 'request' had sounded like an order. Even still, he had his job to do first.

Hopping towards the ward's shopping district, Ranma hoped that things would settle down soon, though he knew his hopes were probably futile.

HR.

"What… was that?" Yusuke asked, floating above the school with Botan.

The spirit guide frowned, narrowing her eyes. "He was a demon, Yusuke." She said, gravely. "And it's very worrying that he's in living world."

"A demon? And he's hanging around the school?!" Yusuke demanded, his eyes widening.

"He's dead." Botan reassured. "Yusuke… I have to go and report this incident to prince Koenma. I'd understand if you want to stay and watch Keiko, but I really have to leave for a while."

"Watch Keiko?" Yusuke asked. "Of course I don't want to keep an eye on her…" He said, quickly, before looking away. "But going to visit toddler boy'd probably be boring anyways."

Botan merely smirked as she ascended into the air. "Right, Yusuke." She said, vanishing.

He just sighed in annoyance, descending again and floating over towards his place. He wasn't going to see Keiko… well, maybe later, but not right now.

HR.

Keiko looked up as Ranko walked into the doors of her family's restaurant, and promptly gasped. It was probably a good thing that she wasn't holding anything other than a cleaning rag at the moment, as she dropped it in shock when she saw the little redhead.

Her clothes were torn and slightly dusty, and she had an ugly bruise around her throat, as well as badly bruised knuckles.

"Ranko, what happened to you?" The brown haired girl asked, running to meet her fellow waitress.

The redhead shrugged. "Nothin, really." She said, waving Keiko's concern off. "Just got a little too far into sparring." She shrugged again, nervously fidgeting with her pigtail. "We gunna get to work, or what?"

Keiko's eyes narrowed. Ranko was, quite obviously, lying through her teeth. You didn't get half way choked to death in a sparring match, for one thing. "Yeah," She said, re-affirming the resolution she'd made earlier in the day to talk to the other girl. Even if she didn't bring up the Ranma and Ranko thing, it was obvious to her that there was something dangerous going on.

Hr.

"Mother, I promise. Hiei is just someone I know from school." Shuichi said, sitting next to the sick woman's bed. "He's in the kendo club."

"You're sure about this, Shuichi?" The sick woman demanded, leveling a piercing look at him.

He shifted uncomfortably, but nodded. "Don't worry Mother, he and Ranma simply got carried away in their sparring session." He explained.

"I'm glad. If you're sure." She said, her eyelids drooping once again. Flicking them back open, she yawned. "I'm sorry… I'm feeling a little tired again."

Shuichi smiled. "Don't worry. I can come back tomorrow."

"Thanks for putting up with visiting me." She smiled.

"It isn't a problem." He said, resting a hand on his mother's as she fell asleep. After waiting for a moment, he turned and exited the room, only to see a short, black clad figure standing outside of the doors. The doctors hadn't seemed to notice him.

"Hiei, what are you doing here?" Kurama asked, annoyed.

"So, this is your human mother, fox?" Hiei asked, indicating towards the door. "I just came to see who's been busily helping make you softer." He smirked.

Kurama sniffed, annoyed, and started walking down the hall. "Childish insults aren't usually your stile, Hiei." He remarked, coldly.

Hiei shrugged. "Is she the one you want the forlorn hope for?"

Kurama stiffened.

"You know what it'll do if you use it for a wish like that." Hiei commented, but Kurama kept walking.

Hiei just started chuckling. "Your funeral, Fox." He said, before leaping out the window.

"Maybe.": Kurama said. "But it's worth it."

HR.

Several hours later, Ranma hung her waitress's apron on a hook and smiled at Keiko's parents as she headed for the door. To her surprise, the brown haired girl fell into step next to her, and waved to her mother. "I'm going to go with Ranko for a while, all right Mom?"

The older woman smiled. "Well, you've been putting in good hours this week, I guess I could let you do that." She said, jokingly. "Have fun!"

Ranma wanted to object, but was quickly distracted as Keiko took her by one arm and pulled. "Hey, what're ya doin?" She asked, right after the restaurant's front door was closed.

"I wanted to talk to you." Keiko explained, intently.

"A… about what?" Ranma asked, taken off guard slightly by the intensity in the other girl's comment. Keiko was usually a quiet, polite girl…. When Yusuke wasn't involved.

"Where did you really get all of those bruises," She started, taking a breath before her next question. "And… how do you turn into a boy?"

Ranma stopped, shooting a look at Keiko. "You… know about the curse?" She asked, shocked.

"Curse?" Keiko asked, equally shocked but hiding it better. Quite frankly, she had expected Ranko to laugh at her after that statement and call her crazy. Girls turning into boys was impossible, and Ranko simply couldn't have dressed up as a boy, since Ranma was a good five inches taller, not to mention a lot heavier.

Ranma frowned. "Yeah, a curse." She said, and then started explaining. "I was trainin in the martial arts with a guy named Genma, who was taking me all across Japan and China…"

Keiko just listened, surprised that Ranko, or Ranma, or whoever it was, was so willing to explain everything after such a small amount of pushing. Still, she was, and Keiko wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

After the redhead was finished, the brown haired girl looked at her speculatively. "So… you're really a guy." She said, slowly. "Why did you lie to me and my parents and take a job as a waitress in our restaurant?"

Ranma flinched, as Keiko glared at her. "Look, it was the only job I could find on short notice." She grimaced. "Do you think I'd take a job in my cursed form if I had the choice?"

"Hey, what's wrong with being a girl?" Keiko asked, the sheer unreality of the situation causing her to catch on something a little more understandable.

"Nothin." Ranma said, turning off the street into a small park in the middle of town. "If you were born one."

Keiko stopped to think about this, before blinking. "Why are you stopping here?" She asked, confused and taken slightly off track.

"This is where I'm camped out." Ranma explained, before looking up to the sky. "Erm, you should probably head home. It's gunna be dark soon."

"What do you mean I should probably be heading home?" Keiko demanded. "I just find out my coworker is a magical shape shifter, and you expect me to go home after that?"

"If you want, I can quit my job tomorrow. I've got enough provisions to last me a couple weeks." Ranma offered, annoyed. "Now, I've gotta go do something."

Keiko was about to say something in return, when the redhead leapt straight up into the branches of a tree and disappeared. "What the…." She muttered, growling. "She… He…. She's almost as frustrating as Yusuke!" She yelled, turning and walking off. "I mean, she pretty well destroys my world view in half an hour, then tells me to go home. Some friend, I guess." She smiled. "But… this means that… Yusuke coming back wasn't a dream!" She yelled, happily, before running back towards the restaurant.

As she ran past an alley, giggling, a gang of thugs looked out at her quickly moving form. These, of course, were the same boys who had been harassing her and Kuwabara for over a week now. One of them looked at the boss, who was staring at Keiko with a fixed, shocked look on his face.

"What're we gunna do, Akira?" He asked, nudging his boss with one hand.

"Are you nuts?" Akira asked. "Every time we go after someone around here, something WEIRD happens. We're goin back home, and STAYIN there!"

HR.

Yusuke reclined in mid air, sighing in relief as he saw the group of thugs from another school turn and walk off into the streets. He'd been worried that he'd have to interfere again, and Botan had pointed out earlier that fighting and violence wasn't exactly the best way to nurture his spirit beast. Still, as he floated after Keiko, he smiled.

When she wasn't being an annoying nag, she was kinda cute. Seeing her skipping down the street, he couldn't help it. "Glad you're happy I'm coming back." He said, reclining further.

"I'm back!" Botan called, suddenly materializing in the space behind him.

"Gya!" Yusuke yelled, whirling around. "I really wish you wouldn't do that." He complained, only producing a giggle from the spirit girl.

"So, what did Koenma have to say about the little guy with the sword?" The Urameshi boy asked, after getting over his annoyance.

"He wants me to keep an eye out for him, but he's not that worried, especially since he apparently saved a human from another demon." She explained. "Still, it is odd that two demons would show up around here like that."

Yusuke chuckled. "We being invaded or something?" He asked, sarcastically.

"Could be." Botan said, seriously. As she did this, something compelled her to look back towards the park in the middle of the city. Shrugging that off, she followed Yusuke as he started moving towards the other side of the city. "Hey, wait up!" She called, annoyed.

HR.

As Ranma entered her camp site, she felt eyes upon her. This had happened before, when Shuichi had followed her here. Sighing, she looked around. "Would ya come out of hiding already?" She asked, reaching into the tent and finding a thermos there. He'd set it up in an area that was lit by the sun for most of the afternoon, and it was still barely warm enough to trigger the change. Dumping it over her head, she felt her form shift back to his normal male one.

"Amusing trick." Came a voice that he recognized, as a dark form descended from the trees. "Even my Jagaan eye couldn't recognize you."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, looking at Hiei in confusion. "Your what?"

"Never mind." Hiei dismissed. "I didn't know you had a camp set up here when I asked you to meet me, but it doesn't matter."

"Oh yeah." Ranma said, remembering the shorter man's words when he'd saved him. He grimaced at that thought, but it was undeniable. He had saved him, whether he liked it or not. "What'd you want to talk about?" He asked, rummaging around in his pack and producing a pot and a small bag of rice to boil in it.

Hiei looked irritated at the fact that the annoying human was cooking, and only paying a bit of attention to him, but shrugged it off and made a mental note to take revenge later. "I wanted to ask you if you were willing to help me with something." He started.

"What?" Ranma asked, warily.

Hiei considered being subtle, but he preferred being blunt, and he thought that Ranma seemed to be the sort to do the same. "I need to steal something." He explained.

"And you want me to help you do it?" Ranma grumbled. "I don't go 'round stealin stuff… Well, I haven't for a long time." He admitted.

"Odd, it seemed like that stealth technique you used would be perfect for that sort of thing." Hiei interjected.

Ranma paused, and then blinked. Given how the old man did things, that was probably why he'd invented the Umi-senken, at least. He wasn't sure about the other style, since it didn't seem to be all that useful for breaking into a place.

Before the pigtailed boy could respond, Hiei continued. "Besides, I have two reasons why you may wish to help me."

"They are?" Ranma asked, after setting the pot of rice onto the now merrily crackling fire.

"First, though I doubt a human like you would care much, you owe me for saving your life earlier today." Hiei started, noticing that Ranma had bristled noticeably when he'd made the comment about not paying back debts. "Second," He continued, "Your brother is helping me do this."

"Shuichi?" Ranma asked, surprised. "Why would Shuichi be helpin you steal things?"

"Yes," The short Demon said, "Shuichi." The second word was loaded with contempt, but Ranma didn't seem to notice. "And I believe that he's helping me in order to obtain an artifact called the Forlorn Hope. You see, it will grant any wish given to it when it is exposed to a full moon."

Ranma's eyes widened. "So he's gunna use it…" He said, understanding. "I guess there's no way of getting this thing legally?"

Hiei snorted. "From King Enma's vaults? It would be easier to get blood out of a rock."

Ranma considered for a moment. If Hiei was telling the truth, and this 'Forlorn Hope' could grant any wish, it could be used to restore his mother, and Shuichi was already helping. "I've gotta talk to Shuichi, ta make sure yer tellin the truth, before I promise ya that I'll help." He said, seriously. "But it sounds like I've gotta do it. Only question I got," He said, before looking down. "Why'd ya pick me?"

"Hmm?" Hiei asked, surprised.

"Look." Ranma said, raining in his already rather badly beaten ego in order to say what he had to next. "That… guy who was fighting me earlier. He's a hell of a lot stronger than I am, so why'd you pick me instead of just letting him kill me?"

Hiei smirked. "This is going to be a covert mission, and he's not exactly subtle." He said, honestly, before chuckling. "Besides, you're about the only human I can tolerate being around."

"What does that mean?" Ranma asked, though Hiei had already left. Ranma's Chi sense could track his VERY visible aura as it shot out of the park, but he couldn't see him at all. "This has been a hell of a month." He muttered, almost wishing to be back on his peaceful training trip with Genma, even if he was a lying bastard.

END.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello, I don't know what to say here, so enjoy... or not. whatever.

Chapter 9, So long, Normal.

Keiko yawned expansively as she woke on Saturday morning, having gotten her first totally restful sleep since Yusuke had died. Ever since that day, she'd been having nightmares about how it had happened, about him coming back and yelling that it had been her fault, her words that had driven him off to get run over by a car. Even after he'd come back himself and told her that he was coming back to life, she'd kept thinking that it was some sort of dream, and that he would just stay in the coma he'd somehow ended up in forever… but now, indirectly, she had PROOF that Yusuke had really promised her that he'd be back.

As she went about getting ready to help open the restaurant for the morning, her parents noticed her lifted mood. "Wow, you're cheerful this morning Keiko-chan." Her father observed, busy cooking breakfast for the family.

She just nodded, and proceeded out into the main room to begin flipping chairs down off of the tables. Her parents exchanged a slightly mystified glance, before shrugging and returning to their activities.

HR.

Several blocks away, Shuichi Minamino had a much more reserved attitude as he went about preparing for his day. Since it was a weekend, he had very little idea what to do with himself. Usually, he would be doing errands for his mother or tending his garden, but his mother was in the hospital, and because of his worry over that fact, the garden was already VERY well tended.

As he finished off his small breakfast, he considered just finding a good book to read until the hospital's visiting hours started. That was, of course, until someone started knocking on his door rapidly.

He stood to answer it, hearing the rapid knocking come again, and scowled. "I'm coming, already." He mumbled, wondering why the person at the door was so impatient. Opening it, he got his answer. Ranma was standing there, looking like he hadn't slept all night.

The red haired boy was about to say something, when Ranma spoke up. "We gotta talk."

"What about?" Shuichi asked, slightly concerned.

Ranma answered with only two words. "Forlorn Hope."

Shuichi stiffened, surprised to hear Ranma say that name. "Come in." He said, flatly, and lead the slightly older boy back into the house.

Ranma looked around the place in interest, and Shuichi realized that the other hadn't been in the house before. He frowned at that thought. His own 'brother,' Shiori's REAL son, had never stepped foot into her home before. Shaking that thought off, he lead the black haired boy into the living room. "How did you find out about the forlorn hope?" He asked, sitting down in one of the several chairs that were scattered around the room.

"That guy I fought a while ago, Heie, or whatever his name is, he told me it's a mirror that can grant wishes, and that you were gunna try 'n steal it."

Shuichi's face briefly collapsed into a scowl, before he got it under control. Internally, he was cursing Hiei for getting the other boy involved, and wondering why on earth he would do so. Perhaps, he thought, this was some twisted form of revenge for Ranma beating the small demon in combat? He was about to start coming up with a deception that would throw Ranma off, when the martial artist spoke again.

"Look, there's no sense in denyin' it. He told me it could grant any wish, which means yer goin' after it ta cure mom, right? I ain't gunna let you do it alone." He gave Shuichi a surprisingly determined glare, and then continued. "Now, why don't ya tell me everythin', so I don't have ta figure it out myself?"

Shuichi looked into his brother's eyes for a moment, and thought. He could still lie to Ranma, get him chasing some mundane but heavily guarded artifact rather than the real forlorn hope, but… Sighing, he nodded. "Ranma, what I am doing is very dangerous." He explained. "Hiei is a demon, from the spirit world, and that is where the forlorn hope is located. It's not a very safe place for an unprepared human to be." As he saw Ranma's eyes widen, he realized that he must have said something wrong.

Across from him, the pigtailed martial artist's mind whirled. Normally, he wasn't the best at thinking things through to get to a logical conclusion, but he'd been chewing on a question in the back of his mind ever since he'd first felt Shuichi and Hiei's auras. They had both felt… wrong, inhuman. There had been far too little chi in them to keep someone alive and active, and he'd felt some form of other energy instead. Now, he learned that Hiei was a demon… like the one he'd tried to fight the day before, who had had the same aura. "You… that means you're a demon?" He asked, pointing at Shuichi in shock. "But how?! I…"

Shuichi, or rather Kurama, sighed. Yes, he'd definitely given away too much, but he had no idea how his brother had leapt to the conclusion. "I presume you want an explanation now?" He asked.

"Yeah, like why you're pretendin ta be Shuichi 'n pretending you care about Shiori?" Ranma asked, obviously angry now that Kurama had confirmed his suspicions, rather than denying them.

"I am not pretending!" Kurama thundered, Ranma's comment apparently striking a nerve. Sighing, he sagged in his chair. "Yes, I am a demon… but I do want to see mother live." At Ranma's confused look, he continued. "A long time ago, I was known as Youko Kurama, one of the best thieves in Demon world." He smiled sadly. "I apparently wasn't good enough, as I ran afoul of some human demon hunters, who injured me very badly. In order to survive, I.." He trailed off, and Ranma leaned forward.

"I took the place of a human woman's unborn child, so that I could regain my power. At first, yes, I thought of mother merely as a convenient vessel to stay in, and one who I could trick into taking care of me once I was born. I thought of you merely as an annoyance…" He looked down at his own hands, opening and closing them slowly. "That isn't the case any longer. I truly love Shiori Minamino as if she were my mother, and I… I fear that it may have been me that caused her illness."

Ranma was incredibly confused, and Kurama would likely have found his expression comical if he wasn't so busy looking at his own hands. Apparently, he had managed to step into an incredibly complicated situation. During his training trip, he and his father had attacked countless low-level demons to drive them into sealing, mostly because the priests gave them free food if they did, but now, he really had no idea what to do. "So… yer tryin' to get the forlorn hope 'cuz you think you owe her a debt?" He finally asked, thinking that he'd gotten things sorted out.

Kurama looked at him oddly. "Yes, that is part of it." He said. "Now that you are back, after I finish this mission, I will leave."

"Hey, ya don't have ta do that.." Ranma objected, suddenly, then looked down himself. "Considering how long I've been gone, yer probably as much her kid as I am, or more. It wouldn't be right ta make ya leave."

Kurama smiled sadly, knowing a few things that Ranma didn't. "Thank you for the offer." He said, simply. "As for the forlorn hope, it will be very dangerous to go after it. As I said, a normal Human shouldn't try it."

Ranma shrugged. "Well, I ain't exactly normal." He quipped. "Besides, if it's gunna save mom's life, you know I have to help."

Kurama nodded, resigned. "I am going to have to have a long discussion with Hiei." He growled, before standing and heading for the door.

"Hey, wait, where are ya going?!" Ranma asked, quickly getting up and following after him. Unfortunately, by the time he'd gotten to the door, Kurama was gone again. "Gah! I hate it when he does that!" He yelled, and suddenly felt really guilty for doing the same thing to Keiko the night before.

As he thought that, something clicked in his mind. "Oh yeah, Keiko's place." He sighed, having forgotten all about what he'd promised her the night before. Being sure to lock the house's front door before he left, he took a quick scan around for Shuichi, unsuccessful, as he'd thought, and then ran off towards Keiko's place.

HR.

Keiko was humming to herself, setting down a plate of rolls on one of the tables in the restaurant, when the front door opened to let in another customer. It was very near the end of her shift, but she took a glance over anyways, and was surprised to see Ranma walking in. She'd actually never seen him around here before. Actually, she reminded herself, since he and Ranko were the same person, she had, sort of. "Ranma, what's going on?" She asked, walking up to him.

"Not much." He answered. "Just gotta talk to yer parents about something."

Keiko looked at him oddly, but took a look around to be sure that all the customers were satisfied and lead him to the back of the building.

Her mother looked up from where she was working on the finances, noticing that her daughter had brought a boy she didn't recognize. "Keiko? What's going on?" She asked.

"This is Ranma, he's a friend of mine from school." Keiko introduced, nervously, seeing Ranma blink at her when she mentioned the word friend. "As for what he wants, I have no idea."

"Oh, a friend, eh?" Her father asked, from his position at the stove, before raising an eyebrow. It was odd, though. He had thought she liked that Urameshi boy. "Something we can do for you?" He finally asked.

Ranma nodded, slightly nervously. "Yeah, well, it's not for me, it's my sister." He explained, desperately wishing he'd remembered to get some water before entering the restaurant. "Her name's Ranko."

Keiko gave him an odd look, but her parents smiled. "Oh, you're Ranko's brother? Nice to meet you. She's a very nice girl, one of our waitresses. I hope there's nothing wrong?" Keiko's mother asked, worriedly, looking away from her paperwork.

Ranma scratched the back of his neck. "Nah, nothin's wrong, Somethin' kinda important just came up and it'll take a while to resolve. She's gunna have ta quit her job here." He explained.

Keiko blinked, surprised, and then remembered that Ranko, or Ranma, or… damn, she was getting a headache, Ranko had promised her that she'd quit her job after Keiko had found out about the curse. "Oh no, she doesn't have to quit!" She exclaimed.

The two older Yukimuras gave each other confused looks, and Keiko's father was about to rebuke her for getting involved in what was obviously personal business, when a new voice butted in. "Oh, yes she does!"

Everyone in the restaurant's back room turned to the door, to see a thin man wearing a blue suit and a pair of glasses standing there. "Mr. Ewamoto?" Keiko asked, surprised.

"Yes, it's me. And how fortunate I found that delinquent Mr. Ranma here as well." The rather oily teacher said, rubbing his hands together.

Ranma's eyebrows twitched. "Why, you lookin for me?" He asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"I'm here to talk to the Yukimuras about a forged work permission slip." The teacher explained. "We just found out that a clerical error was made, and a girl by the name of… Ranko, or something, was using Mr. Ranma's permission slip to work here while not attending our school."

The Yukimura adults both blinked, and Mr. Yukimura frowned. "Well, that's unfortunate. She was so good at her job, too. I suppose that's why she asked you to tell us she has to leave?" He asked, looking at Ranma.

"Yeah." The pigtailed boy said, bowing. "Sorry for bein dishonest, but we needed ta do it that way."

"She was… quitting anyways?" Ewamoto asked, gaping.

Ranma shrugged, trying to keep himself from smirking. "Yeah, 'fraid so."

"Oh well, there's also the matter of a little accident involving destroying school property yesterday." The teacher said. "Given all of the fights you get into, and your dishonesty with your work papers, we have no choice but to expel you from Sarayashiki, permanently!"

"Wait, what?" Ranma asked, blinking in astonishment.

"I am referring to the destroyed wall in the school's front yard. Don't pretend to play dumb." Ewamoto said, almost seeming happy.

"Hey, wait. I didn't do that, it was someone else comin ta attack me!" Ranma objected, angrily.

Ewamoto smirked. "It was still your fight that caused the damage." He explained, smugly. "Now, if you'll excuse me." Turning, he walked out of the door, leaving Ranma's eye twitching rapidly.

"I really, really wanna pound that guy." The pigtailed martial artist muttered, quietly. "Look, sorry if I disturbed ya guys, especially with that idiot showin' up."

"It's fine." Mrs. Yukimura said, but frowned. "Unfortunately, now that we know that, we definitely can't keep employing Ranko. She really should go to school, and we would get in trouble with the government."

"Don't worry about it." Ranma said, and then started to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Keiko said, and then threw a quick look to her parents.

"It's the end of your shift." Her father said.

She nodded, happily, and charged after Ranma.

HR.

As Ranma headed back to his park home, he glanced back at Keiko, annoyed. "Is there a reason you're followin' me?" He finally asked, after trying to ignore her for over a block and a half.

"Well, I wanted to talk." She said. "You took off so quickly last night, and there was still a lot of stuff I wanted to know."

Ranma grudgingly slowed down so that she could walk beside him. "Thought ya wouldn't want to have anything to do with me after I told you about the curse." He said. "I mean, I've been spendin' almost a month lyin' to ya."

"What was it you said when you fought all those guys? You're my friend, right?" Keiko asked, then smiled. "Plus, do you think I would have believed you if you'd have told me that you changed genders when we first met?"

Ranma stopped. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point about you probably not believing me." He conceded, and then smiled slightly. "Is what you said 'bout us being friends true?"

Keiko blinked. That was a pretty odd question. "Yeah, I mean, even though I don't like some of how you acted in school, you're a pretty nice gu.. gi.. person."

"If it helps, I'm actually a guy." Ranma said, feeling slightly less annoyed than he thought he would. "And thanks, I don't got many friends." Keiko wasn't sure what to say to that, and the two lapsed into a silence for a few minutes as they started to move again.

"So," She finally said, trying to break the silence. "What did you mean someone attacked you yesterday?"

The martial artist looked away. "Look, it's not important, okay?" He asked, slightly annoyed. She wanted to respond to that, but recognized the way he was acting as very similar to how Yusuke did on the very few occasions he'd lost a fight.

"So, if you don't have a job, and you're expelled from school, what are you going to do now?" She finally said, sounding a little bit worried.

"I'm gunna train." He responded, off-hand. She was about to ask what he meant, when the two entered the park again. This time, he didn't leap into the trees to lose her, but walked deeper into an overgrown section. She followed him, curious, and the two broke out into a clearing in the center of the overgrown section, where she saw a small one person tent and a passed out Kuwabara.

She blinked, trying to clear her eyes. Kuwabara was still there, laying on the grass next to the tent and snoring away happily. "What?" She asked, confused.

Ranma shrugged. "I invited him over to spar today, but forgot I had some stuff ta do. Ended up writin' him a note ta eat some food and wait." He grinned evilly. "Guess he got bored." The martial artist walked over to the red haired boy, and then looked back to Keiko. "Oh, ya may wanna leave. This could get kinda ugly."

She was about to ask him what he meant, when he grabbed Kuwabara by the shoulders, lifted him, and threw him into a small pond nearby.

Keiko retreated then, hearing the sound of a pissed off red haired boy yelling at the top of his lungs as she cleared the overgrowth. "Does everyone I know at school have to be so weird?" She complained, before starting to head home.

END.

End Notes: Sorry it's taken so long. I've taken to not giving excuses, especially since right now I have none that would actually be truthful other than me getting burnout from all of those Contrast Match chapters at once.


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